


Nature's Way

by BlueHoneyBee



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU Set after neverland, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, But there's a twist that's explained in the story, EMMA GETS A G!P AT SOME POINT IN THE STORY YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, Emma is an Alpha, F/F, Hyde is the same way but he has a potion that actually gives him alpha instincts and stuff, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Leopold was a beta with a superiority complex and only pretended he was an alpha, Regina is an Omega, Ruby is also an omega and sometimes her and regina do the do but it's only implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-10-11 14:22:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 36,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20547602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueHoneyBee/pseuds/BlueHoneyBee
Summary: AU Set after Neverland. All Emma wanted was a simple life. Instead, she just found out she's an Alpha, and that she's the only one after a century. Everyone else is either a Beta or an Omega. Regina is mad. Snow thinks that Emma can suddenly single handedly take over the universe, and Ruby is trying to get into her pants. That is, of course, until she's hit in the face with the reality of who she's meant to be with. And then, of course, there's the big scary douche who thinks he can waltz in and take over town. Emma's life was anything but simple.WARNING: Emma gets a G!P at some point early on in this story and it is mentioned a couple of times





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Nature's way](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20466116) by [Lin39](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lin39/pseuds/Lin39). 

> A huge thank you to My Beta Laura and my awesome girlfriend Krissy for keeping me calm while I was writing and typing some stuff up for me when I couldn't do it myself! 
> 
> Also a huge thanks to the SQSN mods for giving me an extension last minute! Y'all are awesome!

“Wait...I’m a  _ What?!”  _

She didn’t necessarily know what was going on, which was the general order of the day in Emma Swan’s life. But even then, no one had ever really thrown the word ‘Alpha’ around towards her, especially not when she was asking Ruby why Belle smelled very strongly of roses and why Archie looked almost scared of her. 

In fact, the town had been acting weird ever since they’d gotten back from neverland two days ago, and her body hadn’t exactly felt right either. It felt like she was constantly drinking whiskey, but not getting drunk and only feeling that warmth that the alcohol usually offered. 

So when she sat her parents down and asked them what was up, she did not get the response she expected. Though, at this stage she should be used to that. 

“An alpha.” her mother replied, obviously doing her best not to spontaneously combust with pride. “The first one we’ve had in quite a few years, actually.”

As she stared dumbly at her mother, Emma became almost hyper-aware that everyone in the immensely packed diner was staring at her in a mix of awe and fear. Except for one person who glared in annoyance.

“What’s going on in here?” Granny came out of the kitchen demanding.

“Emma’s an Alpha!” Ruby announced. Loudly. 

“Holy crap!” Ashley exclaimed.    
  


“Well, of course. if anyone’s going to be the alpha, it’s going to be the saviour.” Doc pointed out.

“Of course.” Regina scoffed and rolled her eyes.   
  
“I’m so proud!” Snow beamed, no surprise there.  
  
“Hey!” Emma slammed her palm on the table, effectively silencing everyone. “anyone here wanna clue me in on what the _fuck _you’re all talking about?”

“Oh, honey, I think she hit puberty.” Snow remarked.   
  
“It’s okay sweetie the hormones will cool off-” her father began, but whatever was fuelling her didn’t like it

“Oh my god, shut up.” Emma snapped at him, making him physically cower lower in his seat.

“S-sorry.” he stammered. 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Emma asked.

“You should never shout at an omega like that it’s rude!” Snow warned her sternly.

“Woah, okay.” Emma sighed. “Can we please start from the top? What the hell is an Alpha? Or an omega?”

“Well...How do I explain this-” Snow began.

“Oh for gods’ sake” Regina slammed down her whiskey glass and stood up from the bar, going over to their table and leaning over it. “Do you know that ludicrous werewolf stereotype here the leader of the pack is an ‘alpha’ and they have to mate with an ‘omega’ to have pups?” 

“Uhh, kinda?”

“That but with humans.” Regina rolled her eyes. “Anyone who isn’t an Alpha or an Omega is a Beta and they keep the peace. We haven’t had an Alpha in a century or so, which is why everyone seems to collectively be soiling themselves in your presence, except for me. though any more of this and I might actually vomit.” 

She pushed off the table and went back to her seat, signalling to Ruby to refill her glass. 

“Haven’t you had enough?” Ruby asked.

“The only thing I’ve had enough of is this conversation, now give me another drink or come the next full moon, I’ll trap you in the dog-grooming store.” Regina threatened.   
  
“Harsh.” Ruby scoffed and poured her another bourbon. Regina threw her a sneer and threw her drink back. “What’s got your panties in a twist?”   
  
“None of your business!” Regina snapped. 

“...is she going through puberty too?” David asked Snow, who rolled her eyes.

“No, she’s just Regina.” 

“Anyone wanna get back to the fact that apparently I’m the leader of some kind of pack?” Emma asked.

“Oh honey, it’s fine, it’s a natural instinct.” Snow waved off. 

“Oh sure, let her go into this blind.” Regina scoffed. “That’s  _ great  _ parenting.” 

“Because you’re one to talk?” Snow shot back. Regina nearly threw the glass at the beta, but Ruby snatched it out of her hands just in time, earning herself a death glare. 

“These things are expensive.” Ruby justified. 

“Not worth it then.” Regina shot over her shoulder. 

“Regina enough.” Snow said demandingly.

“You are  _ not  _ the boss of me!” Regina shouted, shooting her glare towards Emma next. “And neither are you!”

“I’m not the boss of anyone!” Emma rolled her eyes. “I’m just fucking confused!”

“Oh for gods’ sake.” Granny rolled her eyes, looking from Regina to Snow. “You two are both supposed to be queens but you’re both damned  _ useless  _ when it comes to actually leading and guiding. Emma, it’s simple. There’s the Alphas, the leaders of the pack. They make the decisions, but sometimes they’re a little impulsive. The Betas help keep everyone in check. They follow orders but give advice when they think and alpha is starting to simmer up a bit too much. Think of them as the second in command of the whole thing. The Omegas are...well...They’re the nurturing kind. The mothers. One of their biggest roles is to carry and raise kids.” 

Emma stared at her dumbly. “That’s classist as fuck.”

“Hah, look at that, she  _ does  _ have a brain.” Regina scoffed into her drink.

“I thought I told you to cut her off.” Granny said.

“I didn’t give her that one!”

“Magic.” Regina said, tilting her glass in a toasting fashion towards Granny.

“You still have to pay for it.” Granny said, turning back to Emma. “And yeah, maybe it isn’t the best situation in the world. But it’s very old magic. Legend has it that the human race was on the brink after a natural disaster in the Enchanted forest and they evolved into these classes to keep the population going.”

“Great.” Emma sighed. “As if this whole  _ town  _ wasn’t freaky enough.”

“An Alpha. It’s been...a century?” Grumpy said.

“No.” Snow piped up. “Daddy was an Alpha.”

“HAH.” Regina snorted. “Oh gods, here we go.”

“I remember people saying king leopold was an Alpha.” Ashley said. “They said he took suppressing potions to keep himself in check.” 

“Many of us weren’t close enough to the king to ever know.” Ruby shrugged. “The only people who really know are Regina and Snow, and maybe a few servants but I don’t know who those are.”

“He  _ was  _ an Alpha, he told me himself when I was a child.” Snow said.

“Yes, when you were a child.” Regina scoffed and turned around on her stool to face the younger woman. “You hadn’t yet developed your instincts to tell who was what, not to mention you were, and still  _ are,  _ a human walking definition of the word ‘gullible.’

“How. Dare you.” Snow’s nostrils flared. “Even after his death, after everything you’ve done, you still belittle my father’s memory?! He was an Alpha, you of  _ all  _ people should know that!”

Regina glowered at the younger woman and stood up, her face going dark and dangerous. If Emma didn’t know any better, she’d think thunder clouds were forming overhead. 

“All I know about your father was that he was a predatory, evil, vile, abusive liar, and a poor excuse for a living creature!” Regina seethed. 

“Woah, hey!” Emma stood up, standing between them.

“Of course you would try to disparage his name like that.  _ You  _ killed him! How’s that for abusive?!” Snow attacked back, now standing just slightly behind Emma. 

“If I even told you half the things he did to me, it would make your skin crawl so hard it’d be in New York before you knew what hit you.” Regina said in a warning tone. “He wasn’t an Alpha. He was a Beta with a superiority complex that hid how inferior he felt under the weight of his own crown and he overcompensated for that the only way he knew how. Those ‘suppressants’ he took, they were potions he bought from a witch-doctor to mimic a rut. And he thought that was enough for him to take whatever he wanted, no matter if it was given willingly!”

“You vile, disgusting liar!” Snow shrieked. “I should have executed you when I had the chance!”

“Both of you stop it right now!” Emma demanded.

“She’s right!” An unfamiliar voice cried out, standing up, shocking all three women and grabbing everyone’s attention. Emma looked at the woman, who didn’t seem much younger than Regina, curiously. Snow raised a brow at her. But Regina, after a moment, recognized her. 

“Sofia.” Regina said. The blonde woman smiled at her, stepping closer, not a hint of fear or hesitation. 

“It’s so good to see you again.” she said, stepping up to the Evil Queen and, in a move that surprised everyone, hugging her tightly. 

“I’d wondered what had happened to you.” Regina sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t come to look for you.” 

“I wouldn’t have remembered anyway.” Sofia sighed, stepping back and smiling at her. “But I am glad I got to see you again after all this time.”

“Uhh, hey.” Emma said to the stranger. “You said something kind of important just a second ago?”

Sofia nodded at her. “Regina is right. About Leopold.”

“And I’m a dwarf.” Snow rolled her eyes.

“You could stand to be a little taller.” Regina muttered, earning her a glare from the shorter woman. 

“I’ll have you know-”

“Oh my god!” Emma groaned, pointing her fingers at Regina and Snow. “You two, shut up.”

Both women closed their mouths, but Regina leveled Emma with a glare. Still, the sheriff ignored her, turning to Sofia instead. “Please carry on.”

“Of course.” Sofia nodded, sighing and gently taking Regina’s hand in hers. “Leopold was no Alpha. I was a servant in his palace since I was about sixteen. And I have to honest, he always gave me the creeps.”

If a few people were still muttering to each other, they stopped. The silence fell thick in the packed diner as the former servant spoke. You could hear a pin drop, but someone would probably shush it. 

“Every so often he’d drop a comment about how beautiful I was, or how I would make a good mother. I’m an Omega, comments like that aren’t alien to me. But from someone so much older than me, everytime he said something like that it would make me want to bolt away from him and lock myself up in a room. I did, in fact. Every night. I was genuinely afraid of him slipping into my room uninvited at night. I wanted to leave, but I couldn’t. My father had died in war, my brother was sick and couldn’t tend the fields. My mother tried to keep our heads above water but the minute I got the opportunity to be a servant in the king’s palace, I knew I had to take it to take care of my family. Everytime I thought of running off, all I could picture was my starving family. So I did what I could to avoid him, but I knew it was only a matter of time before he got tired of me dodging his advances.” 

Emma glanced down at the two women’s joined hands and saw how tightly Regina was holding on to Sofia, to keep her anchored. 

“I feel genuinely ashamed to say it.” Sofia said towards Regina before she looked down again. “But when I heard that the king was marrying a young princess, it was a sigh of relief. I thought he’d leave me alone and I’d be able to work in peace. But one night I was in his room, I was cleaning, and I found his potions. My mother is a herbalist, she made me suppressants for years. So I knew what they looked like, and the king’s potions were nothing like them. I got curious, so I smelled them. I knew what they were in an instant. A lot of Betas took them hoping to be able to satisfy their Omega’s heat. When I heard someone coming in behind me, I tried to hide them in time. I still don’t know if he saw me. But I was in his room. He thought he’d found his chance. I tried to get away. He pinned me down, he told me he was the alpha and I had no choice but to do as he pleased. So I told him that I knew he was no Alpha. He got angrier. He looked absolutely insane. I thought he was going to kill me.”

Sofia gulped and turned closer to Regina, seeking her out, seemingly for protection. “Regina walked in just in time, she heard what I said. She lied through her teeth to appease him and got him to leave me alone. Later that night she arranged a carriage to take me home, and gave me enough gold to keep my family and myself for years. To all of you she might be the Evil Queen, but to me? She’s a hero. And she endured more than all of you can imagine. I got to leave that night thanks to her. She couldn’t get away from Leopold for another ten years. Killing him was too merciful for the likes of him. He was a monster, he was vile. He was a lot of things. But I swear to you, he was no Alpha.” 

The air in the room was thick, Emma hesitated even shifting in fear of tipping some kind of balance. Sofia turned fully towards Regina, who gently wrapped her arms around the younger woman and held her tightly as the blonde buried her face in the crook of Regina’s neck. 

“One Omega protecting another.” Granny said. “I never heard of that happening.” 

“If I left it up to the Betas who were  _ supposed  _ to protect me? I’d have been dead in the ground long ago.” Regina said, not hesitating to show her disdain towards all the betas in the room. 

“Nature’s Way.” Dr. Whale piped up. 

“What?” Ruby said. 

“I never thought I’d see it.” he went on. “But Regina is pure evolution in action.”

“I thought I told you to cut  _ him  _ off too.” Granny said to her granddaughter. 

“I  _ did _ . He’s weird when he’s sober.” Ruby said. 

“No, listen!” Whale stood up, approaching Regina, who raised a brow at him challengingly. 

“Watch yourself, or you’ll be the one who needs a doctor.” she warned. 

“You’ve always needed to fend for yourself.” he said.

“Look at you putting that phD to good use, Dr. Obvious.” Regina rolled her eyes. 

“Whale, come on, quit being weird.” Emma said.

“No, Emma you don’t get it.” he said.

“You’re right, I don’t.” the blonde sighed. “So maybe get to the freakin’ point before I die of old age?”

“Omegas, male or female, they’re the ones who are usually protected. Alphas and Betas, no matter what, have a sacred duty to protect them. Without Omegas the entire race would cease to exist. So you protect them because, well, you owe them!” he said. “But what happens to an Omega when those who are supposed to protect her end up being the thing that’s endangering her the most?”

He pointed a finger silently at Regina. 

“I’m sorry, do you need help amputating that digit?” she threatened. 

“Nature’s Way.” he said instead, ignoring the threat. “The very basic laws of evolution dictate that any creature who is not protected by others will have no choice but to protect herself. I studied this, ages ago. An Omega without an Alpha or a Beta that will protect her will slowly develop Beta-like characteristics. Placing her a half-step in between the two classes. Regina is  _ literally  _ in a class of her own. And other Omegas, like Sofia over here, feel safer in her presence than in the presence of Alphas or Betas, because she’s one of their own but  _ stronger. _ ” 

“You’re saying people feel  _ safe  _ around the Evil Queen?” Snow rolled her eyes. 

“Hey, he makes a lot of sense.” Emma said. “I mean...if you watch the discovery channel as much as I did.”

“Emma, sweetie, no offence, but you yourself have said that you’re confused.” Snow said, earning a less-than-pleased frown from her daughter. 

“Actually...honey.” David said gently. “Whale is right. I mean sure our mangled past makes it weird but...When we were in Neverland something in my gut told me to trust her. And it wasn’t just knowing that she’d do anything to save Henry.”

“It’s true, Snow.” Ruby piped up.

“Ruby, she threatened to have you  _ groomed. _ ” Snow said. 

“Hey I could use a trim.” Ruby shrugged. “I also had no qualms about yanking a glass out of her hand, because...I don’t know. I always kind of felt...safe? Like...on an instinct level.”

“There always was a pull.” Whale shrugged. “I thought it was just because she was hot.”

“Stay away from me, Dolphin.” Regina warned. 

“See?” Whale gestured towards her. “Even her taunts don’t bother me so much.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s because you’re a masochist.” Snow shot back.

“Enough.” Emma said. “What Whale is saying is true, and from what we just heard from Sofia, I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened to Regina.”

“You believe  _ them _ ?!” Snow said.

“Yes.” Emma shrugged. 

“Why?!” Snow demanded.

“Because...Because I know the type.” Emma said, shrugging and clearly trying to keep her emotions in check. “They act like they’re great, amazing guys who could do no wrong and win everyone’s trust. But in truth they’re sleaze bags and try to take advantage of any girl they can.” 

“Ex boyfriend?” Regina snickered. 

“Ex foster dad, actually.” Emma said, not looking anyone in the eye. Regina’s face instantly took on a look of regret. 

“I’m so sorry.” she said. 

“It was years ago.” Emma shrugged. “But I believe you.” 

“Thank you.” Regina said, getting a nod from the blonde. 

“Well, in that case the dwarf was right.” Granny said. “Emma really is the first Alpha in a century.”

“Well regardless of how long it’s been.” Snow said, looking straight at Regina. “Emma is the natural leader, which means she should be the mayor.”

“What?!” Both Emma and Regina exclaimed in different tones. 

“I mean…” David shrugged. “It is the natural order of things.”

“Natural order?” Emma laughed and shook her head. “I can barely lead my way out of a paper bag!”

“Your natural instincts will guide you.” Snow said.

“Yeah, to the nearest hot-dog stand, maybe!” Emma said. “I can’t lead a town! I can barely lead a police force of just me.” 

“It’s true, her budget reports are awful and she keeps trying to get state-funded bear claws.” Regina shrugged.

“Hey, sheriffing is hungry work.”

“That’s not a word.” 

“See! I don’t even use real words!” Emma said, Regina rolling her eyes behind her. 

“We’ll get you a dictionary!” Snow said. “Emma are you really telling me you’d rather have the  _ Evil Queen  _ run this town?”

“She ran it pretty well for 28 years.” Emma shrugged.

“Under a curse!” Snow said. “Time didn’t move! We didn’t have an election in that long.”

“Yeah there’s also no homeless people.” Emma shrugged. “I’ve been in the enchanted forest, if indoor plumbing is a curse, let me have it!”

“That’s a good point.” Ruby muttered. 

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing.” Snow said. “You’re the natural leader! Your place is to lead.”

“My  _ place?” _ Emma scoffed. “Okay, how about this. If I’m an Alpha and you’re  _ not  _ that means that your place isn’t to tell me what my place is.”

“Oh.” Snow visibly shrunk. 

“I understand you want what’s best for me, I’ve been deciding what that is for 28 years  _ without  _ being an Alpha. I’ve got a lot of weird feelings and shit going through me right now and you putting all this pressure on me isn’t helping. So everyone, listen up!” Emma said, addressing the whole diner. “If you want me to lead, I’ll lead. And my first and  _ only  _ order of business is this: From now until I say so, Regina is the mayor of this town. She’s been keeping things running smoothly for 28 years, and she’ll continue to do so.” 

“An Omega can’t lead!” Grumpy complained. 

“You wanna fight about it?” Emma asked.

“N-no.” Grumpy frowned.

“Anyone else?!” Emma demanded, looking around the room challengingly, but everyone was stunned or scared into silence. “Good, then that’s that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m hungry and a little pissed off so I need a grilled cheese and a beer.” 

“Oh here we go.” Granny rolled her eyes as she turned to go back into the kitchen. “Alphas still have to pay!”

Emma ignored the old woman and turned to Regina, who crossed her arms and shrugged. 

“Smartest move you ever made.” the brunette said. 

“If you have any trouble let me know.” Emma said, getting a sarcastic smile from the mayor.

“Like I don’t know how to handle myself.” she scoffed.

“Well, ideally you’d do it without fire-balling someone.” Emma shrugged

“Just so we’re clear,  _ alpha… _ ” Regina sneered. “I will  _ never  _ obey your command.”

“I don’t expect you to.” Emma said. “Though we do need to talk about those state funded bear claws.”

“Over my dead body.” Regina said, adjusting her blazer and walking out of the diner. 


	2. Chapter 2

“What were you thinking?” Snow demanded the second they walked into the loft.

“Is this about that second bear claw? Because-”

“ _ No.  _ This about you trusting Regina over your own mother!” Snow said, clearly angry. 

“Oh my God.” Emma sat down on the couch and sighed, trying to ease her rising frustration. 

“She’s our enemy!” Snow said. Emma stood up suddenly.

“No. She’s  _ your  _ enemy. I’m getting a little too damn tired of you roping me into your bullshit!” the blonde spat out. “You’re too goddamn blind to even see that I don’t even know what’s going on yet! You’re so focused on being the mom to some big, bad Alpha supreme leader of whatever-the-fuck that you can’t even shut the fuck up long enough to explain what’s happening to me!” 

Snow was taken aback, and felt embarrassed to say the least. 

“Not to mention that two people just told you your dad tried to rape a girl and you stood there and called them liars!” Emma said, clearly still furious. “God knows what he did to Regina! But you don’t give a shit do you?”

“I never said that.” Snow said. 

“You didn’t have to.” Emma said. “I’m getting sick of this black and white mentality you keep trying to push. The world isn’t like that. Nature doesn’t always work out as it should. Just because I’m an Alpha doesn’t mean I’m meant to lead.” 

“Any choice could have been better than Regina.” Snow said.

“Why?” Emma shrugged. “Out of everyone in this town, she’s the one who spent the longest being queen. Maybe she didn’t do it with the best intentions, but it takes a lot of intelligence to be able to lead a freaking army.”

“I’ve lead an army.” Snow shrugged.

“You lost.” Emma shot back. “I can’t tell if you’re acting like this because it’s Regina or because she’s an Omega, either way, it’s bullshit, and it won’t change my mind.”

Snow tried to say something, but Emma, having had enough, simply left the room to go to her own. 

It was just past 5PM when Emma knocked on the door to 108 Mifflin street, still on edge after what had happened at the diner and the argument with her mother. She didn’t know what had brought her to the mansion, she just knew she needed to see the mayor. 

Though, it was clear to her thanks to the expression on the brunette’s face when she opened the door, that Regina did not share that sentiment. 

“Hey.” Emma said gently.   
  


“What are you doing here?” Regina asked. Emm shrugged. 

“Something told me I should check in on you.” she answered, earning herself an eye roll

“Learning how to follow your instincts already, I see.” 

“I mean, I always have been impulsive.” The blonde shrugged again. “I guess it must be an alpha thing.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Regina crossed her arms over her chest. “Regardless, clearly I’m fine, so your visit is unnecessary.”

“You’re not fine.” Emma said. “I don’t think you’ve been ‘fine’ in a while. Given what you just told everyone…”

“If you think what happened to me in the past is any excuse for you to feel  _ sorry  _ for me, miss Swan-”

“I don’t feel sorry for you.” Emma said. “I feel pissed off that the world let you down like that. I’m a little annoyed that I have more in common with you than with my own mother. I’m feeling a lot of things, and honestly I’m not sure what some of them are.”

“You never fully experienced what developing your alpha side through regular puberty was like. It’s possible you’re dealing with the onslaught of it coming all at once.” Regina shrugged. “Imagine going through puberty in your late 20s in a matter of a few hours.”

“That sounds awful.” Emma cringed. “I’m not gonna get a growth spurt and be like, ten feet tall in the morning, am I?”

“No, Emma.” Regina rolled her eyes. “Your hormones are just out of check.”

“That’s fun.” Emma sighed. “What do I do?” 

“Try not to snap anyone’s neck if they look at you funny.” Regina said. “Alphas tend to be impulsive as is.” 

“If there hasn’t been an Alpha in a century or so, how do you know so much about them?” Emma asked. Regina lowered her gaze to the ground between them and sighed. 

“My mother always said that if an Alpha were to show up, I had to be the best Omega there was so that I could win them over.” Regina gritted her teeth. “According to her, an Omega is only as good as the Alpha she serves.” 

“That’s…” Emma frowned. “Disgusting.”

“Look at that, something we can agree on.” Regina rolled her eyes. 

“Regina I know we had our differences. I know this complicates things... _ a lot _ .” Emma sighed. “I’m trying hard to focus on what’s important here. Keeping the town safe, keeping  _ our son  _ safe. This whole greek alphabet mess, it shouldn’t change that.”

“No, it shouldn’t.” Regina nodded. “But the people want you to lead.”

“And I am.” Emma nodded. “By choosing the best person to keep a handle on this town, and that sure as shit isn’t me.” 

“I don’t like that we keep agreeing, Sheriff.” Regina teased, Emma rolled her eyes. 

“Well whether or not we agree, I have your back.” she said. “And that isn’t me trying to be the alpha over you. I don’t want you to think that it is. But the people of this town are sometimes too stupid for their own good. I would be a shitty mayor and a shitty leader. I’m a loner I’ve always been that way. I do a pretty decent job as Sheriff-”

“Depends on who’s definition of ‘decent’ you follow, but sure.” Regina said, getting a look from the blonde. 

“-But I wouldn’t last two minutes as mayor. I’d probably try to spin on the big office chair, tip over, and break my neck.”

“What a tragedy that would be.” Regina deadpanned. Emma ignored her and went on.

“You’ve been running this town long enough. You know the ins and outs, you set up whole systems to keep this place running smoothly. Curse or no curse, you’re the only one qualified for the job.” Emma said. 

“I don’t recall needing you to tell me that, Miss Swan.” Regina said. “So why are you?”

Emma shrugged. “I guess I’m just trying to make sure you understand where I stand on this.”

“You made that pretty clear when you threatened to physically harm a dwarf because he opposed you.” Regina smirked. “Very Alpha of you.”

“I may have been very close to losing my shit just then.” Emma said. “I needed everyone to shut up and stop telling me what to do.”

“Well it was effective.” Regina shrugged. 

“If anyone gives you trouble, you let me know.” Emma said.

“I  _ can  _ handle myself, Emma.” Regina rolled her eyes.

“I know.” Emma nodded, giving the brunette a smirk. “I’m just letting you know I’m in your corner.”

“As strange as the sentiment feels, I appreciate it.” Regina nodded. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Henry will be home soon and I need to get started on dinner.” 

Emma nodded, hesitating a moment before stepping off the porch. 

“So Omegas go into heat?” Emma asked, sitting at a booth at the diner across from Ruby.

“Oh yeah.” Ruby rolled her eyes. “And being a werewolf? Ouch. I could have like, ten orgies at once and it wouldn’t be enough.” 

“Ten orgies sounds like a lot of coordination.” Emma cringed. “Are there even enough people in the town?”

“Who said anything about staying in town?” Ruby rolled her eyes. “Anyway, you should probably stay away from any omega that’s in heat. From what I hear Alphas go nuts when an omega is in heat.”

“How do I even know?” Emma shrugged.

“You smell them.” Ruby said, popping a fry from the shared portion on the table into her mouth. “Kind of like...hmm...you know how when you’re hungry you swear you can smell Granny’s burgers from across town?”

“Yeah.” Emma nodded.

“That but with sex.” Ruby shrugged. 

“That sounds awful.” Emma said. “So I’m going to be able to smell whenever you’re horny?”

“Emma, it’s me, I’m always horny.” Ruby shrugged. “Can you smell me right now?”

“Kind of…” Emma said, sniffing the air experimentally. 

“Well I’m an Omega, you can always smell us.” Ruby shrugged. “Just imagine this scent but like, enhanced and it’s an aphrodisiac.” 

“This whole thing sounds awful.” Emma repeated. “I should skip town.”

“Don’t be crazy.” Ruby said. “We haven’t had an Alpha in a century, I’m penciling you in for my first heat.”

“ _ What?!”  _ Emma’s eyes went wide.

“Only an Alpha can really satisfy an Omega’s needs and I’ve been  _ dying  _ for years.” Ruby said. “I need this.” 

“Yeah, hard pass. I’m not having sex with anyone.” Emma said.

“What are you, a nun?” Ruby said.

“I just don’t want to make things weird.” Emma whined. “This is all really confusing and weird.” 

“You know, I’m glad I was never destined to be the chosen one for anything.” Ruby said. “It looks like a lot of stress.” 

Emma dropped her forehead on the table. “You have no idea.”

“Tequila?” 

“You read my mind.” 

“Emma.” she was being shaken to the waking world, earning whoever was disturbing her an annoyed groan. “Emmmaaaa.”

“Oh my god, what?!” Emma said, opening her eyes a little to see her mother hovering over her. 

“Did you sleep with Ruby last night?” Snow asked.

“What?!” Emma demanded in annoyance. 

“You got home drunk and mentioning something about Ruby and ten orgies.” Snow shrugged. “I’m just curious.”

“No sex with Ruby, no orgies.” Emma said. “Just a lot of unnecessary information and tequila.”

“Okay.” Snow nodded. “Did you sleep with anyone?”

“No!” Emma huffed in frustration. “What’s gotten into you?”

“I’m curious. An Alpha almost always seeks out an Omega on their first night.” Snow said. “At least...I think they do.” 

“The more you talk the more I want to become a hermit.” Emma complained. 

“Well It’s a matter of time really.” Snow said. “You’ll go into a rut, or an omega somewhere will go in heat and drive you nuts.”

“Or you’ll keep talking and I shoot myself and end my misery.” Emma said, grabbing a pillow and putting it over her head.

“Oh quit being so dramatic.” Snow waved off. 

“How about you quit being so pushy?” Emma grumbled under her breath, thankful when she heard her mother’s retreating footsteps. She reached blindly over to her nightstand and yanked her phone off the charger, groaning at how bright it was in her eyes and how much it aggravated her hangover headache. 

She lowered the brightness of her phone and opened her texting app, typing out the first thing that came to mind to the first person she thought of. 

To: Regina

** _Are Betas meant to be annoying as fuck?_ **

_ If said beta is your mother? Then yes. _

Emma rolled her eyes, putting the phone down and turning to get some more sleep, when her phone buzzed again.

_ Care to share the reason behind the obscure text? _

** _I spend the night out drinking with Ruby, _ ** ** _   
_ ** ** _come home repeating something Ruby said, _ ** ** _   
_ ** ** _and all of a sudden mom acts like _ ** ** _   
_ ** **** _I may have run off to vegas and got married. _

_ Did you sleep with the wolf?! _

** _OMFG. NO!_ **

_There’s no need to cuss Sheriff, __  
_ _it’s an honest question._

** _I find out I’m an Alpha and suddenly _ ** ** _   
_ ** ** _everyone thinks I’m a sexual deviant._ **

_ That is absolutely not true… _

_ I thought you were a sexual deviant even before then. _

** _Thanks for the vote of confidence…_ **

_ Don’t blame me, you gave off a vibe… _

** _What vibe was that?_ **

...

** _Regina?_ **

…

Emma frowned at her phone and put it aside, sighing as she realized she would actually have to get up at some point. 

She got up and took a quick shower to help herself wake up and hopefully drive away the hangover headache. Going downstairs after getting dressed, she found a note sitting on the table and picked it up to read it.

_ Dear Emma, _

_ I left you some breakfast in the oven.  _

_ Love, _

_ Mom. _

She dropped the note and started hunting for her breakfast, turning on the coffee machine as she found her plate and picked up a strip of bacon. She unlocked her phone, frowning at the unanswered text message in front of her. 

She picked up a fork to dig into her scrambled eggs when there was a knock on the door. She moved away from her plat and the seat on the island bar to open it, taken aback when she found Henry standing there with his backpack, as well as a duffel bag. 

“Hey.” Emma said, raising a bow at her son. “What’s up?”

“Mom is acting weird.” he said. “She said she needed me to stay with you this week.”

“ _ Week _ ?” Emma’s eyes went wide and she picked up her cell phone from her pocket, using the ‘call’ button in the text app and placing the phone against her ear, hand on her hip and tapping her foot as she waited for Regina to answer, which was taking longer than usual. 

_ “Hello?”  _ Regina’s voice finally came after a click on the line. She sounded...breathy. And her voice was husky like she’d been screaming. 

“Regina?” Emma asked. “Are you sick or something?”

“I’m fine.” Regina sighed. 

“Care to explain why you sent Henry over here for a whole week unannounced, then?” Emma said. “He says you’re acting weird.”

“Don’t rat me out!” He complained. 

“Just go set up your Xbox.” she waved him off. 

“I thought perhaps he’d enjoy some time with you.” Regina said, her voice still low and husky, despite how she tried to clear it. “What’s wrong, Sheriff, are you suddenly too good to hang out with your son?”

“No.” Emma rolled her eyes. “It’s just not usual with you. You’re all schedules and equal timing and all that shhhhh….stuff.”

“Nice save.” Regina sounded normal for all of one second before she let out a soft groan. 

“Seriously though…” Emma frowned at the sound. “Are you okay? You sound like you’re in pain.”

“I said I’m fine, Emma.” Regina sighed her name out and the blonde was surprised at how...pleasant...the sound was. “I just...Look don’t tell him anything that might worry him but...I need some time to myself and it wouldn’t be good for either of us if he were here right now.” 

“Okay…” Emma said, still not convinced that nothing was wrong. “Do you need me to come over?”

“No!” Regina exclaimed, almost painfully. “No, Sheriff Swan, that will not be necessary.” 

“Okay.” Emma shrugged. “But if you need anything I’m just a text away.”

“Noted.” Regina said. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have some....business...to attend to.” 

Emma’s confused expression didn’t go away as Regina hung up the phone, and so when Henry turned around to look at her, all he saw was his blonde mother frowning at her phone.

“Well? What did she say?” he asked.

“Nothing.” Emma shrugged. “She’s just acting weird.” 

“Told you!” he said. “She’s been like this all morning.”

“I say we give her some time and space, kid.” Emma shrugged. “All the stuff that’s going on right now...I think it may have weighed a little heavy on her.”

“Maybe.” Henry frowned. “Are you really an Alpha?”

“Woah, what do you know about that?” Emma asked. Henry shrugged.

“Some of the older kids at school were talking about it.” he said. “They say there’s only one Alpha, and that’s you. They say you’re meant to be the real leader of the town.”

“Yeah.” Emma sighed. “People have told me that.” 

“So you don’t want to be the mayor?” Henry asked. “Someone said you gave over leadership to mom.”

“I…” Emma sighed and moved to sit on the couch, gesturing for Henry to sit down next to her and putting a gentle arm around his shoulders when he did. “Listen, kid...I don’t know how much you know about this stuff.” 

“Not a lot.” Henry shrugged. “I read some stuff about it in the storybook, but nothing that explained anything. I tried looking up some info online but I uhhh…”

His eyes shifted away and he fidgeted a little. “I had to delete my internet history...in case mom checked.”

Oh...kay.” Emma sighed. “It’s complicated. And honestly I’m glad you’re not going through the same thing right now, because I honestly don’t think I could handle having to help you through it while I don’t really know anything about it myself.” 

“That’s okay.” Henry nodded. “I talked to Nick about it, he said he asked his dad who explained it to him but it was a little complicated. He said we wouldn’t know what we are until we’re older and then his dad said it’s up to our parents to explain what our roles are in society.”

“That…” Emma groaned. “I guess is accurate, annoying as it is.” 

“I think mom might have an easier time doing it.” Henry said. Emma sighed.

“Don’t be so sure on this one kid.” she said. “Let’s just...cross that bridge when we get to it huh?”

“Okay.” Henry nodded. “Hey Em?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for not kicking mom out of the mayor chair.” he said. “She’s been sad lately, with all that happened with her mom and stuff. I don’t think she would have handled it very well if she didn’t get to be mayor anymore. She  _ is  _ trying to be good. I know the other people in this town don’t believe that, but I do.” 

Emma nodded. “I do too, kid.” 

“Awesome.” he smiled at her. “Now...can I kick your butt in a video game?”

“I haven’t had coffee yet so, probably.” Emma chuckled. 


	3. Chapter 3

“Kid…” Emma gave Henry a look that told him she was mildly telling him off. “What did I say about your shoes? This isn’t your mom’s huge-ass mansion there’s no room for shoes to be left running around in this loft.”

“Mom doesn’t let me do that in the mansion.” Henry shrugged as he played his video game. Emma rolled her eyes. 

“Then why do you think it’s okay to do it in the loft?” she asked. He shrugged again. “Hey, shruggy the eighth dwarf, get up and get these shoes out of the way before I unplug that thing.”

“Okay okay.” He conceded. “I thought mom was the stern one.”

“Yeah well...I’m in a mood.” she said. “And I don’t feel like breaking my neck by tripping over your shoes.”

“They’re out of the way.” He said, having put them in the shoe rack by the door. 

“You should probably take a break from that screen.” Emma suggested.

“ _ Ma. _ ” he whined.

“I’m serious, you have all day to play. And a duffel bag full of clothes. Go unpack so you’re not living out of a bag for a week, then you can play more.” she said.

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say mom bought an Emma suit and put it on.” Henry grumbled under his breath. 

“Hah, I could never cook that well.” Emma said. “I’m real and you’re stuck with me kid, so make the best of it.”

“Can we order Granny’s for lunch?” Henry asked from the middle of the stairs

“Sure, why not, your mom already hates me anyway.” Emma shrugged.

“Awesome!” 

That seemed to settle Henry down, and Emma could go back to pretending she wasn’t dying while she looked over the budget report that Regina had been yelling at her about for the past week, though she thought that maybe she was doing that because she couldn’t yell at her about anything else. Either way, the hangover she was still nursing wasn’t helping in the least, and she was trying hard not to fall asleep on the folder in front of her. 

“Hey ma.” Henry called as he came down the stairs, a black sweater in hand. “I need a favour.”

“What’s up kid?” she asked. Henry help the sweater up to her. 

“This is mom’s.” he said. “I thought it was mine cause I picked it up from the laundry room, I guess I mixed them up.”

“Why were you looking for your sweater in the laundry room?” Emma asked.

“It was clean but mom took it anyway, she was acting weird yesterday too.” Henry shrugged. “Can you take it back and get mine?”

“Did you not bring any other sweaters?” Emma shrugged. 

“I…” Henry blushed slightly. “I have an outfit planned for tomorrow and if I don’t have the black one I have to change the whole look.” 

Emma’s right brow went up so high it hid behind her hair. “Kid...do you have a date?”

“........................yespleasedon’ttellmom.” he said rapidly. Emma sighed, giving him a small smirk and taking the sweater. 

“What time’s the date?”

“Six.” he said.

“I’ll go in the morning, maybe your mom will be feeling better by then, she seemed pretty sold on me not coming over there. So I hope you understand I’m going into the danger-zone for the sake of your fashion statement.” she said.

“I’ll let you win next time we play.” He sighed.

“Good boy. Go finish unpacking.” she nodded.. She took the sweater from his hands before he left to go back to the bedroom. 

She tried to get back the her budget report, and then rolled her eyes at herself. She felt like ass, Regina was taking a sick day too, to the point of getting Henry out of school for the day so he could come over. Why was she so worried about the damn report? Somehow, something in the back of her mind told her it all went right back around to Regina. Either way, she closed the file and set it aside, looking at the time and picking up her phone to make a call.

“Granny’s” Ruby’s voice came over the phone.

“Hey.” Emma said. “Any chance you can bring over a couple of burgers later?”

“Sure, I’m making a run to Regina’s at lunch time. The threat of death looming over my head if I’m late by one minute. So I can pass by your place on my way over.” the werewolf said.

“Wait…” Emma narrowed her eyes “Regina ‘eat a fry and you’ll have a coronary’ Mills  _ ordered diner food  _ for lunch?”

“She’s uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh.” Ruby hesitated to finish her sentence. “...Sick.”

“She said she wasn’t.” Emma said. “She sent Henry over for the week.”

“Oh you know her.” Ruby shrugged on the other end of the line. “Won’t ever open up to you about anything. But I’m her food provider. She has to tell me, otherwise I’ll taunt the shit out of her.”

“Probably also helps that you’re an Omega. You two have a trust thing, I guess.” Emma said. “Especially with that whole...what was it...Nature’s Way?”

“Probably.” Ruby said. “I mean socially speaking she’s my superior.”

“Yeah but isn’t everyone? I mean it’s classist as shit.” Emma said.

“Hey there’s a reason you’re getting your burgers first.” Ruby teased.

“I would think it’s because the loft is on the way towards mifflin street.” Emma pointed out. “But sure, the big bad alpha demands her burgers first. Not least because I’m dealing with a pre-teen unplanned.”

Ruby chuckled over the line. “So your and Henry’s usual burgers then?”

“Throw in some mozzarella sticks.” Emma said. 

“Sure thing.” Ruby said. “See you in an hour.”

Emma hung up the phone and put it down, her hand landing on the sweater on the table. She looked at it with a hint of curiosity, not sure how she should feel about accidentally being in possession of a piece of Regina’s clothing. 

She thought she should text the brunette. It felt like some strange invasion of privacy. True, it was only a sweater and an honest mistake. There was no conceivable way Regina could think it was Emma’s fault…

...Though she probably would anyway. 

She took a deep breath and sighed, suddenly hit with a slight cinnamon scent. She frowned. She hadn’t had cocoa today, and hadn’t used the spice at all. Was she having a stroke?

No, that was toast. 

She sniffed around a little to see where the smell was coming from, smelling her shirt and, and then her hands, on which the smell seemed stronger. 

She looked around the table, and picked up the only thing that she thought could have been the source - Regina’s sweater. 

She sniffed it experimentally, the scent hitting her harder as she did, and then all but shoved her face in it.

Apples, cinnamon, Regina’s perfume, and a slight musky scent she couldn’t quite place. It was a little strange that all those scents would be mixed together, but it all smelled….so. Damn. good. 

She gulped, putting the sweater down as her body started heating up out of nowhere. It felt like she was suddenly sitting over a space heater turned up full blast, and all of a sudden she felt a completely different response coming from further down, south of the waistline. 

_ Did I accidentally take viagra instead of aspirin?!  _ She thought, though the idea of finding viagra in her parents’ apartment was disconcerting at best. She leaned back in her chair and the friction between the crotch of her sweats and her hot centre sent jolts up her body. 

“Crap.” she got up immediately, ditching everything in front of her and rushing up the stairs, grabbing a new set of clothes and rushed to the bathroom, jumping into the shower and turning it on as cold as she could. She was pretty sure she heard her body hiss as the water hit her heated skin. But no matter how shocking the cold water was to her skin, it didn’t ease the throbbing between her legs. She sighed, praying to god that Henry would just go back to his game and leave her alone for a little bit before she pushed all thoughts aside, her hand travelling south in the hopes of easing whatever the hell had sent her into a frenzy. 

She tried to think of anything and everything that could help get her there, but ultimately the only thing that her mind settled on was a particular mayor. 

She wasn’t thrilled at the idea of being attracted to Regina. Not that Regina wasn’t attractive.  _ Attractive doesn’t even begin to describe her. Attractive is an insult. Attractive is...like...a nun next to Regina. Woah okay that’s…  _ she groaned internally at her own inner thoughts and sighed. Okay, yes, Regina mills was the definition of hot. But she knew that her even being attracted to her was complicated and messy. She spent the better part of the months she spent in Storybrooke so far ignoring quite a few bodily reactions that the brunette inspired. Sure, maybe she’d had a sneaky, naughty little fantasy of her here and there. But that didn’t mean anything. 

Still, her mind wouldn’t even try to think of anyone else, not even Ruby! And...she thought Ruby was hot too.

_ Maybe I just have a thing for brunettes...oh God my mother is- WHY IS THIS NOT A TURN OFF?! _

She officially hated her perv of a body. 

She went back to thinking about Regina, and sighed. A means to an end, just this once, she thought to herself as her hand travelled lower, reaching its’ destination as she bit her lip to suppress a moan. 

It took her three times. And a lot of cold water. And she still felt a little pent up, but it was definitely an improvement from earlier. 

“You were in there for ages.” Henry commented when she came out of the bathroom.

“I thought maybe a shower would help my head.” Emma said. 

“Why is your face all red though?” he asked, having not once looked up from the TV screen. 

“Uhhh.” she shrugged. “Hot shower.”

“Okay.” he shrugged. “Did you call Ruby?”

“Yeah she said she would be an hour.” Emma said.

“Emma, you’ve been in the shower for that long.” he pointed out.

“Maybe she has other orders kid.” Emma shrugged. “Your mom isn’t feeling great so she asked her to bring her lunch too.”

Henry looked up at her with the most serious look on his face. “Emma...I think my mom is dying.”

“Quit joking around.” Emma threw a cushion at him before she sat down on the couch.

“She’s never been this sick before.” he said.

“Well one thing I think we all learned from magic is that it does some pretty weird shit to people.” Emma sighed. “Maybe she’s just...I don’t know, recovering from suddenly getting her magic back.”

“She said she wasn’t going to use it anymore.” he frowned at her.

“Well that was before neverland happened kid.” she said, reaching over and ruffling his hair gently. “Besides, I never said she was using it, I just said she was recovering from it coming back.” 

“Will you use your magic?” he said.

“I don’t know, kid.” Emma sighed. “There’s a lot of weird shi- uh. Stuff...going on right now.”

“Hmm.” he hummed. “Nice save.”

“Uh huh.” the blonde rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell your mom.” 

“Deal.” he nodded. There was a knock at the door, immediately followed by Henry’s stomach growling loudly. 

“Emma? It’s Ruby!” the werewolf called from behind the front door. 

“Geez kid, did your stomach sniff her out or something.” Emma commented as she got up. 

“I’m hungry.” he shrugged, Emma chuckled at him and got to the door, opening it to reveal Ruby standing there. The waitress was holding out a bag read for Emma to take when her eyes went wide at the blonde.

“Woah.” she said.

“What?” Emma asked. 

“You...smell...uh.” 

“What?!” Emma said with mild offence “I was just in the shower for over an hour. You must be sniffing something else.”

“Emma are you…” Ruby gulped, looking up at the Alpha nervously. 

“Am I what?”

“Hi Ruby.” Henry jammed himself in front of Emma and grinned up at the brunette. 

“Hey kid.” Ruby said, handing him the bag with the food. “Was that your stomach I heard?”

“Yup.” he said, taking the bag. “Thanks!”

“Bone Apple Teeth.” Ruby said.

“It’s-” Emma tried to correct.

“I know, Belle just gets annoyed when I say it wrong because she speaks French so well.” Ruby snorted before her face turned serious again. With Henry focusing on food and having left the two of them to their conversation, she grabbed Emma’s arm and pulled her out into the hallway, shutting the door behind them.

“Ruby! What the hell?!” Emma exclaimed.

“Sorry.” Ruby sighed. “But you  _ reek  _ of rut!”

“Excuse me?” Emma cringed.

“You’re in rut.” Ruby sighed. 

“If you’re not going to start making sense soon…”

“Oh my Gods.” Ruby rolled her eyes. “An Omega goes into heat when it’s time to breed, in similar fashion an Alpha goes into what’s called a ‘rut’...Didn’t Snow explain this?”

“Snow explained nothing besides the fact that I should apparently be some kind of supreme overlord, don’t even get me started on her.” Emma sighed in annoyance. “So what...nature is telling me to  _ breed  _ now?”

“Hey at least you’re not the one who has to carry the damn kids.” Ruby crossed her arms. Emma raised a brow at her before flicking her eyes towards the door, beyond which Henry was setting the table for lunch. “Oh...uhhh...Not anymore, anyway?”

“Nice save.” Emma rolled her eyes. “I’m not breeding with anyone.”

“That’s a damn shame.” Ruby’s bottom lip slipped in between her teeth. 

“Ruby!” Emma chided.

“Sorry! Sorry...I just...May have…” she shrugged and trailed off and Emma took in her dishevelled hair for a minute. 

“...Were you like having a quickie or something?” the blonde asked.

“Maybe.” Ruby stood up straighter and tried to look non-chalant. “What’s it to you?”

“Nothing as long as my burgers aren’t cold.” Emma shrugged. “So is this why I felt like I was so horny I was going to die earlier?”

“Possibly. Did it happen after anything in particular?” Ruby asked. “The smell is kind of weak, but that’s probably because it’s your first. If it were any stronger I’d be going nuts right now.”

“You’re always nuts.” Emma waved off. “I don’t know, honestly...I was just trying to do some work and then I smelled this cinnamony smell that was coming from Regina’s sweater-”

“Wait what?” Ruby’s eyes went wide again. “Why do you have Regina’s sweater?” 

“The kid picked it up, thought it was his.” Emma shrugged. “It smelled like...I don’t know. I guess some kind of body spray? Apples and cinnamon, original huh?”

“Yeah.” Ruby smiled nervously. 

“Now I have to go take it back tomorrow. She’s gonna kill me, told me not to go over there.” Emma sighed. “Hey you’re on your way to her place, right? Maybe you could-”

“I actually already went over there.” Ruby said. “There was...traffic. So I took a detour.”

“Great.” Emma sighed. “Okay, I guess tomorrow’s a good day to die.” 

“Hey, maybe if she’s feeling generous enough, she’ll give you a suppressant.” Ruby said.

“A what?”

“A suppressant, I’m pretty sure we talked about this at the diner.”

“We talked about a lot of things that day.” Emma sighed. 

“A suppressant is like...anti horny medication.” Ruby shrugged. “For Alphas and Omegas.” 

“Got it.” Emma sighed. “I guess I’ll ask. She could help or she could kill me - either way someone comes out of it happy.” 

“Yeah, just…” Ruby sighed.

“What?” Emma asked.

“Go easy on her, okay?” Ruby asked. “Part of the reason why she enacted that whole curse was to get rid of this hierarchical bullshit.”

“I don’t blame her.” Emma sighed. 

“Yeah, me neither.” Ruby shrugged. “She’s having a bit of a tough time dealing with the fact that she has to deal with all of this now...on top of, you know...the whole town still wanting her head on a spike.” 

Emma growled softly under her breath. “The whole town needs to shut the fuck up. Regina could have killed me when I was coming out of that well. Instead she put her own life at risk to soak up whatever magic trap there was.”

“Yeah.” Ruby bit her lip nervously. 

“Is it weird that I’m standing up for her?” Emma asked. “This whole thing between her and my parents is a great big mess, but something in my gut tells me it’s her that needs protecting, not the other way around.”

“Your mom is a Beta.” Ruby began. “Your dad is an Omega, but your mom is his mate so she’s his ‘protector.’ He’s safe with her around. Regina is an Omega and you’re an Alpha. Your instincts are telling you to protect the Omega before anything else.”

“Yeah but there are other Omega’s out there who want Regina’s head.” Emma shrugged.

“But they aren’t as close to you as she is. They didn’t raise your son.” Ruby said. “The whole thing is messy but instincts happen and yours are only just showing up. As messy as it sounds, you and Regina have been through quite a bit, especially after all that Neverland mess...at least from what I heard.”

“Yeah…” Emma sighed. “We did.”

“And then you suddenly realize you’re an alpha...I mean I don’t know. I’m no expert and you’re the first Alpha I ever met. But from what we know about Alphas...you’re protecting the person your instincts are telling you to protect. And between you and me? I think you’re doing the right thing by standing up for her. Regina is no saint, but no one in this town is. And as weird as this sounds, I kind of wish you never broke the curse. Having to remember what I went through back before the curse...it hurts. For the first few nights, the nightmares were enough to believe that it was happening again.” Ruby shrugged. Emma’s shoulders visibly slumped.

“I’m sorry.” she mumbled. Ruby shook her head.

“You didn’t even know you were doing it.” she said. “It was destiny...I mean destiny can get fucked but...it still wasn’t your fault.”

“I know what Regina did was bad...but somehow what the townspeople want now is like...worse? To me?” Emma shrugged.

“I am so glad she didn’t know you back then.” Ruby chuckled. “We’d be screwed.”

“Yeah...urgh.” Emma sighed. “There’s way too much information still coming in.”

“I can’t imagine being this horny is helping?” Ruby teased.

“Shut up.” Emma groaned. “I want to crawl into a freezer.”

“I’d let you sit in the one in the diner if I didn’t think you’d get pheromones all over it.” Ruby chuckled.

“What?” Emma gave her a quizzical look.

“Pheromones.” Ruby shrugged. “It’s the thing that I can smell on you that would absolutely be driving me nuts if it weren’t so faint.”

“Faint?” Emma asked.

“Yeah. I can smell it but it’s like it’s...super far away.” the werewolf said. “I think it’s because it’s your first. It develops over time.”

“ _ Perfect.”  _ Emma groaned. “And I thought having my period was bad.”

“Oh no this is way worse. Especially when you don’t have a fuck buddy.” Ruby laughed. “Hey maybe if you need to I could-”

“No.” Emma cut her off. 

“Dammit.” Ruby deflated. “I have to go, I have more deliveries and Granny will probably actually kill me if I’m late for the dinner shift.”

“Okay.” Emma nodded. “Hey maybe Granny has some information?”

“Maybe.” Ruby shrugged. “I’ll ask?”

“Thank you.” Emma said.

“No problem.” Ruby said. “Good luck with Regina.”

“I’ll avoid it for now if I can, maybe talk to her when she’s feeling better.” Emma said. “If I can.”

“Good luck.” Ruby said again before she walked away. Emma sighed and looked up at the ceiling, quiet for a moment before whisper-shouting angrily

“You wanna throw some even more complicated shit my way while you’re at it?!” 


	4. Chapter 4

She had the full intention of keeping it together and talking to Regina when the brunette was feeling better. She really did. Honest to whichever god everyone else suddenly believed in. She didn’t care. They all seemed to enjoy playing games with her life anyway. 

She even made the concrete and stubborn decision to not bother Regina when she woke up and felt like she was in some weird furnace that was also an aphrodisiac sauna...No it didn’t make any sense in her head! But nothing really did any more. Point was, she was adamant about  _ NOT  _ bothering Regina.

So what, pray tell, brought Emma Swan to the great white mansion of 108 Mifflin Street?

Well see, life decided to make even  _ less  _ sense. Surprised that was even possible? So was Emma, but definitely not as surprised as she had been when she felt a weird new, and very sensitive appendage growing from her nether regions. 

Snow ended up finding out too soon for her comfort...Emma’s, that is. Because Snow seemed just a hair short of delighted. 

“You’re  _ happy  _ about this?!” Emma snapped at her in frustration.

“Emma, honey, you’re an alpha! You’re meant to father the next generation!” Snow preened.

“ _ I am not fathering a whole-ass generation!”  _ Emma all but screamed. “Do you know how much  _ work  _ that is?!”

“It’ll be fun!” Snow encouraged.

“I’m going to see Regina.” Emma rolled her eyes at her mother. 

“What?!” Snow snapped. “Why her?!”

“Oh my God. Be  _ more  _ paranoid.” Emma rolled her eyes, too frustrated and confused for this nonsense. “I’m going to her because she makes  _ potions.  _ Ones that might suppress this...whatever it is!”

“You can’t suppress the course of nature!” Snow gasped.

“What do you propose, Snow?! I go fuck the entire female population of this town?!” Emma snapped back.

“Well no…” Snow shrugged. “There’s a few men I could point you at too-”

“ _ Bye! _ ” Emma said, grabbing her red leather jacket and leaving the room, nearly knocking David over on her way out. 

“Well…” David sniffed. “Someone’s hit puberty.” 

“ _ Shut. up.” _

So yes, here Emma stood, 108 Mifflin. The place where she would either solve her not-so-little problem...Or die trying... _ literally. _

She clutched onto the sweater that Henry had brought to the loft accidentally for dear life as she stepped up to the door and very slowly, and carefully...knocked.

The door swung open in less than a minute, revealing a less than pleased looking Regina.

“ _ Miss.  _ Swan.” she seethed through her teeth. “I thought I made it very clear to you that you were not to come here.”

“I uhhh...I…” The usually very blunt Sheriff stammered, before holding up the sweater in her hands. Regina’s eyes fell to it before they seemed to get even angrier.

“And just  _ what  _ do you think you are doing with my clothes?” she demanded, snatching the sweater from Emma’s hands.

“Henry.” Emma gulped. “Took it accidentally, instead of his own...he says he needs his...not sure why.”

Regina let out a sigh. “Wait here.” before she turned and walked away from Emma. The blonde could see her going up the stairs and nervously played with her fingers until Regina’s footsteps were heard coming back down. 

“You buy a boy one black sweater…” Regina muttered to herself as she came back towards the door, holding out Henry’s sweater. “Here.”

“I...Need your help.” Emma almost squeaked, gently taking the garment from Regina’s hand.

“Oh for the love of- His soccer practice is Tuesday, his after school creative writing class is on Thursday. He’s not allergic to anything - thank God for that - and no matter how many times he tries to tell you otherwise we do  _ not  _ celebrate taco tuesdays!” Regina recited. “Anything else?”

“I don’t need help with Henry!” Emma said almost defensively, getting a raised brow thrown at her. “I need help with...with me.”

“I’ll be happy to give you Dr. Hopper’s card-”

“ _ JESUS FUCKING CHRIST REGINA _ .” Emma snapped, the alpha in her tired of being talked down to. Regina seemed to pick up on that, taking half a step back, though her features didn’t soften much. Emma took a deep breath and sighed, Regina’s own scent hitting her senses and making her groan audibly. “I’m...ugh. I don’t even know but everyone says I’m having my first rut.” 

Regina gently sniffed the air and nodded. “You are.”

“You can  _ smell  _ me?” Emma asked.

“Unfortunately.” Regina bristled. “Which makes this a lot more complicated.” 

“Why?” Emma asked.

“I...None of your business.” Regina rolled her eyes. “Why are you asking  _ me  _ for help?...Surely you don’t think that because I’m an omega-”

“Jesus christ  _ no. _ ” Emma ran a frustrated hand through her hair. “Ruby said you might know something about suppressants. Can you make me one or something? I’m dying here.” 

“You’re going to  _ suppress  _ your urges?” Regina’s eyes went a little wide.

“As opposed to going on a fuck-spree and complicating things even more?” Emma said.

“Eloquently put.” Regina rolled her eyes. “I might have an alpha suppressant but I’d have to check. Are you alright to wait out here?”

“Sure.” Emma shrugged. 

“Okay.” Regina took one last look at Emma before she turned around and walked away. Emma could see her going down to her basement and fidgeted around nervously in the open doorway as she waited. She had to admit, having been inside Regina’s house in the past, that she felt a little weird about not being invited inside. But Regina was a private person in the best of times, and she knew that right now, a lot of shit from the past was getting stirred up again, and that Regina was going into self-preservation mode. 

Her minute of pondering killed the time it took Regina to go downstairs and find the suppressant, and before she knew it, the brunette was coming back upstairs, holding a vial in her hand. 

“Here.” Regina held the bottle up. Emma, in her excitement, snatched it from her hand and pulled open the cork.

“ _ Thank fuck-” _

_ “STOP!”  _ Regina snatched the bottle back, careful not to drop any. “Idiot.”

“Hey!” Emma whined. “Regina come  _ on  _ I’m dying here!”

“I  _ know  _ you adult-sized child!” the Omega shot back. “I was about to tell you not to guzzle it all down like water in the desert.” 

“Why not?” Emma asked.

“Because, the amount you take makes no difference - one drop and one vial hold the same power, it’s potent enough for that.” she explained. “It is, however, a short lived relief. Especially if this is your first rut. And I only have this one vial. I need to make more if you intend on using them frequently.”

“Please?” Emma asked.

“Well, since you asked so nicely.” Regina said, handing her the vial again. “One drop when the need arises, Miss Swan, anymore would just be a waste.”

Emma sighed, looking down at herself before she looked up, a pained expression on her face that confused the brunette for a moment. “I wish you hadn’t said ‘arise.’”

Regina raised a brow at the blonde before she looked down to where Emma had looked, only to see her trousers tenting at the crotch. Her eyes went wide for a moment, not realizing that her bottom lip was now sitting snugly in between her teeth. 

“Regina?” Emma asked after a minute or so at Regina staring at her crotch like that. “... _ regina?” _

“Hmm, what?!” Regina snapped out of it, suddenly flipping her hair and trying to act like nothing happened. 

“You were kinda staring.”

“No I wasn’t.” Regina snapped.

“I...sure.” Emma sighed. 

“So you grew a...uhm…” Regina gestured vaguely in that general direction and Emma rubbed her face in frustration and embarrassment for a moment. 

“Yes.” she said. “Do you think it goes away?”

“Not sure.” Regina shrugged. “We haven’t had an Alpha in about a century, Emma, not everyone is exactly clear on the details.” 

“ _ Perfect. _ ” Emma sighed. Regina stood in silence for a moment, seemingly pondering to herself. “I don’t know what to do anymore, I swear to God I’m at my wit’s end with this whole mess. Snow is no help at all, she just wants me to ‘ _ father the next generation’  _ which just feels like the grossest reaction ever. I’m so confused about everything. I feel like everyone is telling me what I need to be and no one is telling me how this whole thing works.” 

“No one knows.” Regina shrugged. “And they’re too caught up in the fact that they finally have an alpha to lead them to realize that it’s basically the blind leading the blind.”

“That’s gonna turn out well.” Emma scoffed. “Who the fuck even thought it was a good idea to make  _ me  _ the natural leader?”

“The gods like to play jokes sometimes.” Regina shrugged, leaning casually against the door jamb. 

“Gee thanks.” Emma chuckled. Regina hummed a response and stopped to think for a second, letting silence fall on them both. 

“I suppose...I do owe you one.” the brunette said.

“What?” Emma looked at her with a raised brow. Regina sighed and stood up straight, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Whether or not I enjoy admitting it, and for the record, I don’t…” she began. “I do have to admit that you taking action and basically telling everyone to shut up in that diner a couple of days ago is the only reason I still have my position.” 

“Yeah.” Emma shrugged. “But who ever thinks I have the ability to be mayor has clearly smoked something that you cannot buy at the grocery store.” 

“Nicely put.” Regina chuckled, shaking her head. “Though I have to say, it is irksome that the only reason I still have my position and my power is  _ your  _ say-so.”

“I know.” Emma sighed and shrugged. “I’m sorry?”

“There’s nothing to apologize for, really.” Regina shrugged. “But I appreciate it, nonetheless.” 

“Yeah.” Emma nodded. “I guess...I guess what I mean is...I’m sorry life keeps kicking you when you’re down.” 

“Excuse me?” Regina’s brow raised in curiosity. 

“Come on, Regina.” Emma shrugged again. “Your mom was awful, you were forced into a marriage with a guy twice your age, if not more, and lately the second one shitty thing clears up the next is just right around the corner. And now people are trying to get you out of office? Fuck...if I were you I’d probably curse their asses too.” 

“Are you...Are you  _ sympathising  _ with me for cursing untold masses?” Regina gave her the most confused look Emma had ever seen, but all the blonde could do was shrug a third time.

“Guess so.”

“Well that’s...odd.” Regina shook her head. “Very odd. And confusing.”

“Sorry?”

“Stop that.”

“Sor-.” Emma stopped herself and gave Regina a half-smile. “Oops.”

“You’re awful.” Regina flicked her hair out of her face and let out a sigh, her scent wafting over to Emma, who’s eyes went wide as she got a whiff of it.

“ _ WOAH.”  _ the blonde exclaimed, the apple and cinnamon scent from the day before hitting her like a freight train, she steadied herself against a column of Regina’s porch as her eyes went dark and the new appendage in her trousers twitched. Heat ran through her entire body like the temperature suddenly spiked up about ten degrees and shivers ran down her spine. 

“Are you okay?” Regina asked, stepping closer, the scent getting stronger as she did.

“No don’t.” Emma stepped back, as if she were afraid of being burned. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” Emma said. “That smell…”

“What smell?” Regina asked her curiously.

“Apples...and cinnamon and something else I can’t put my finger on…” Emma shut her eyes and groaned. “But it smells so good and it’s like... _ fuck.  _ Ugh. I can’t...It’s...an aphrodisiac.”

“Oh no.” Regina stepped back suddenly. “My suppressant must have worn off.”

“Wait... _ suppressant _ ?!” Emma looked at her in wide eyes. Regina pulled a tiny vial from her pocket, uncorking it and drinking it like a shot, she took a deep breath and suddenly the smell faded, though Emma’s body didn’t calm down much. “What the hell?”

“I’m in heat too.” Regina sighed. “It’s why I told you not to come here. We’re lucky I didn’t get a chance to get a whiff of  _ your  _ pheromones like you did mine, or we’d be screwed. Drink a drop of that.”

Emma looked at the bottle in her hand that Regina had gestured to, and uncorked it, taking the tiniest sip from it. It tasted bitter and way too salty, but a few seconds later she felt her body calming down completely and the annoying stiffness in her trousers finally going away. 

“Thanks.” Emma said. “What would have happened if you’d gotten a whiff of me?”

“Have you ever seen rabbits during spring?” Regina raised a brow. Emma looked at her confused.

“Wait...what?”

“The heats and ruts Emma, they’re a mating thing. They’re there to keep the population intact.” Regina shook her head. 

“I’ve been standing here for ages, why didn’t you say anything?” Emma asked.

“Because the suppressant was helping until it stopped.” Regina responded. “I told you, they’re potent, but short lived.”

“I can see that...holy crap.” Emma sighed. “I never felt anything like that before.”

“That’s pheromones for you.” Regina sighed. “When an alpha and omega are either in rut or heat, they give off pheromones. If left unsuppressed those pheromones will drive the opposite class crazy. While you’re in your rut you’re going to feel like you absolutely  _ need  _ to have sex, and no matter how much you have, you’re always going to want more.”

“That sounds either really cool or fucking awful.” Emma remarked. 

“Personally? I hate it.” Regina crossed her arms again, keeping a clear distance from Emma. “But that’s because I’m an Omega. We’re always told that our job is to lay back and take whatever an alpha in mid-rut feels like giving out. We’re seen as brood-mares. It’s enough to make your skin crawl.”

“Yeah.” Emma frowned. 

“I suppose if an omega actually liked their mate it wouldn’t be an issue.” Regina shrugged. “But I wouldn’t know.”

“I’m sorry. I really shouldn’t have come here.” Emma sighed. “I didn’t know and I...I was freaking out.”

“It’s...it’s okay.” Regina sighed. “This is all information you have to learn anyway, I suppose it’s better than having your mother pushing Ruby at you when she’s in heat.” 

“Something tells me Ruby wouldn’t need the help.” Emma rolled her eyes and chuckled. 

“I can see that.” Regina nodded. 

“I should go.” Emma said. “Thanks for the suppressant.”

The blonde turned and started walking away a few steps, though she could feel Regina’s eyes still glued to her back, and then…

“Emma, wait.” Regina called, taking a few steps forward. The sheriff turned and looked at her curiously. 

“Yeah?”

“I’ll…” Regina sighed. “I’ll help you.”

“What?” Emma asked

“I’ll help you learn all this. I’ll give you what information I can. I’ll help you get to where you need to be with this.” she said.

“Oh.” Emma looked at her, clearly surprised and just a little confused. “Uhh...Thanks…”

“It has to be after this week, us being near each other isn’t exactly a good idea right now.” Regina said.

“Yeah, I get it.” Emma nodded. “...Can I ask why?”

“Why what?” Regina asked back.

“Why do you want to help me?” Emma asked. Regina sighed.

“Against my better judgement? You  _ are  _ the natural leader. And if you’re left to your own devices like the rest of the town seems to be hellbent on leaving you to, it can’t end well...for anyone involved.” Regina crossed her arms. “Something is telling me this is the right thing to do. And if I’m ever going to redeem myself…”

“I get it.” Emma nodded. “Okay...so just...text me? I guess?”

“Will do, Miss Swan.” Regina nodded.

“Thanks, Regina.” Emma gave her a small smile before she turned around and walked away, the brunette watching her as she left. 


	5. Chapter 5

“What do I smell like?” Emma asked, lifting her chin up off her hands which lay flat on the table at the booth she sat in at the diner, Ruby sat across from her, biting into a burger. Both the sheriff and the waitress were on their lunch break, and emma felt she needed to get away from her father for some time, since he’d elected to stay on as Deputy Sheriff ever since they got back from Neverland. 

“Uh, what?” Ruby asked.

“You know, my scent?” Emma asked. “Regina says everyone has one.”

“Yeah, we do.” Ruby said, leaning in closer and taking a whiff of Emma. “Hmm...chocolate.”

“Seriously?” Emma asked.

“Yeah.” Ruby nodded. “Like, warm chocolate. Hot chocolate, and...almonds? Oh yeah, definitely almonds. And something spicy like cinnamon or something. And then kinda musky and just naturally you.”

“Huh...cinnamon?” Emma asked.

“Yeah.” Ruby nodded. The blonde rested her chin back down on her hands.

“Regina smells like cinnamon too...and apples.”

“No surprise there.” Ruby chuckled. “Have you been going around sniffing the town’s folk?”

“No.” Emma said, almost grumpily. “I went over to Regina’s yesterday to see if she could give me a suppressant...while we were talking hers wore off for a second and I nearly died.”

“She’s in heat.” Ruby said quietly.

“I know, she told me.” Emma nodded. “Is it meant to be that...intense?”

“Oh yeah.” Ruby nodded. “I remember my first heat. I thought I was going to die if someone or something didn’t touch me.” 

“What did you do?”

“I was still pretty young. Granny gave me a suppressant and explained to me what it was.” Ruby shrugged. “That’s mostly how it went for a lot of Omegas, as far as I know.”

“I wonder if that’s how it went for her.” Emma asked.

“For...Regina?” Ruby asked.

“Yeah.”

“Em, no offence?” Ruby began.

“What?” Emma asked.

“You’re starting to sound obsessed.” the werewolf said. Emma sighed, hiding her face by pressing it into the backs of her hands from a second.

“I know.” she mumbled. “I’ve been thinking about her since I caught a whiff of her damn scent. I’m worried it’s something to do with the whole alpha / omega thing.” 

“It could be.” Ruby shrugged. “With no Alpha around for a century, some of the details are fuzzy.”

“Regina said she’d help me learn everything, where she can at least.” Emma sighed. “Am I meant to feel this drained?”

“I think it might be because you’re suppressing your urges.” Ruby shrugged. “It was kind of the same with me till I got used to it.”

“I hate this.” Emma sighed. 

“You’re kind of going through puberty a second time. So I don’t blame you.” The brunette said.

“I’m freaking  _ twenty eight. _ Puberty is  _ not  _ the thing I should be experiencing right now.” Emma grumbled. 

“Will you go to prom with me?” Ruby teased.

“ _ Bite me, asshole. _ ” Emma snapped back.

“Touchy.” Ruby poked the top of her head. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had a crush.”

“You do know better...At least I hope you do, I never know with you anymore.” Emma said.

“Regina tastes like she smells.” Ruby said.

“How do  _ you  _ know?” Emma asked. Ruby smirked, and the blonde couldn’t deny the spark of jealousy that flared within her.

“I helped her out yesterday. An Omega in heat is no joke and she can suppress it all she wants but sometimes Regina just needs to be touched. Technically because of that whole ‘nature’s way’ thing, she’s my superior. She had an itch, I helped scratch it.” the brunette shrugged, not looking Emma in the eyes as the blonde’s glare grew more deadly.

“Why would you tell me that?” the sheriff asked through gritted teeth. 

“Beeeeeeee caaauuuusssee….” Ruby drawled out. “IWannaSeeifYouhaveaCrushOnRegina.”

“Ruby…” Emma nearly growled.

“Oh boy, you got it bad.” Ruby said. 

“ _ Shut. Up. _ ” Emma commanded, her body tense. 

“Sorry.” Ruby said. “But you know...an alpha getting defensive like this…”

“ _ I AM NOT GETTING DEFENSIVE!” _ Emma all but shrieked. 

“...Totally.” Ruby nodded. “But...let’s say, hypothetically because you’re totally  _ not  _ ready to rip me a new one, let’s say you  _ were  _ getting defensive.”

“Which I am not.”

“Which you are not.” Ruby nodded. “But if you  _ were _ ...it would be a sign that…” 

“That  _ what,  _ Ruby?” Emma asked.

“That you want to claim her.” Ruby said.

“ _ Claim  _ her?” Emma asked, her eyes going wide.

“You know...as your... _ mate. _ ” Ruby shrugged. “Alphas and Omegas...we mate for life...Like penguins!”

Emma groaned and dropped her forehead back on the table. “We’re fucking  _ penguins  _ now?!”

“I mean I guess if you’re into that.” Ruby shrugged. 

“I’m going to hurt you.” Emma threatened.

“No you’re not.” Ruby scoffed. “An Alpha protects Omegas even if you wanted to hurt me your instincts would stop you.”

“Wanna bet on that?” Emma said.

“Sure.” Ruby said.

“What?” Emma looked up at her in confusion. Ruby stood up and got out of the booth, grabbing Emma’s hand and pulling her along. 

“Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“Out back.” Ruby said, leading the blonde out through the back of the diner and out the back door, into the alleyway. She made sure no one was following or watching them and shut the door, doing a double check for privacy before standing right in front of Emma, her hands behind her back. “Go ahead, punch me.”

“What?” 

“Punch me.” Ruby shrugged.

“You’re crazy.” Emma rolled her eyes.

“Or you’re just chicken.” Ruby taunted.

“Ruby.” Emma warned.

“Go ahead, take a swing.” Ruby said.

“I’m not doing this.” Emma said.

“You know who else you’re not doing? Regina.” Ruby teased, a shit eating grin on her face. “I did her though.”

“Ruby  _ shut the fuck up. _ ” Emma growled, her hand balling into a fist.

“I bet you’d  _ love  _ to have been in my shoes just then. Regina beneath you, writhing and moaning. She’s a hell of a squirter I’ll give you that.”

Emma’s fist flew up, ready and primed to punch Ruby straight in the mouth, but something stopped her, like an invisible force that made it impossible to swing forward. And the next thing she knew…

“ _ Miss. Swan. _ ”

“Oh crap.” Ruby squeaked, turning around in time to see, and reveal to Emma, the fact that Regina was power-marching towards them, obviously pissed off. 

“Just what in the  _ hell  _ do you think you are  _ doing?!” _ the mayor said, her nostrils flaring and shoving herself in between Emma and Ruby, Emma put her fist down and shook her head.

“It’s not what you think.” she said.

“Oh, it isn’t?” Regina scoffed. “So I didn’t just see you about to  _ punch  _ the living daylights out of miss Lucas?” 

“She couldn’t if she wanted to.” Ruby shrugged. 

“Excuse me?”

“It’s alright, Regina.” Ruby said. “I pushed and prodded her to this. I was just trying to prove a point.”

“Whatever it was, Miss Lucas, you know better.” Regina’s voice went slightly softer at that. “Do you mind telling me what this point was?”

Ruby looked from Regina to Emma and smirked, shrugging slightly. “Ask Emma.”

“Ruby.” Emma warned, but the youngest of the three opened the back door to the diner and walked inside, shutting the door behind her and locking it, leaving Emma to huff in frustration. 

“Care to explain?” Regina asked.

“Ruby...was…” Emma sighed. “Riling me up to prove that as an Alpha, I could never hurt an Omega.”

“And?” Regina asked. “I’m guessing the way your fist was primed, you proved her wrong.”

“No, I didn’t.” Emma shook her head. “Something stopped me, the second my fist was up all I could feel was guilt and shame.” 

“I see.” Regina nodded. “Well I’m glad to see your instincts are as they should be, then...Ruby’s your best friend, what did she say to you to get you to  _ almost  _ punch her?”

“I...it’s...not important.” Emma shook her head.

“Clearly.” Regina said, sarcastically.

“What are you doing out? I thought you were like, in self-imposed solitary confinement until your heat passed.” Emma said. 

“I came to give you these.” Regina held up a small leather pouch that looked like something straight out of the Enchanted Forest. She handed it to Emma, who took it gently and opened it. 

“More suppressants.” she said.

“I figured tiny vials would help them be more...portable.” Regina shrugged.

“Since my boss won’t let me work from home.” Emma gave her a pointed look.

“I’m sorry, do you  _ want  _ to spend the day with your mother?” Regina gave her a look back.

“...Fair point.” Emma shrugged. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Regina said. 

“When did you have the time to make all of these?” Emma said. “Doesn’t potion making take time?”

“Being in heat with no one to…” Regina cleared her throat nervously. “...Help you out...means a lot of sleepless nights.”

“Wait you were  _ up all night  _ making these?” Emma gave her a wide-eyed look. “Regina, go home, get some rest, you could have just...called and had me pick them up or whatever. I could have waited.”

“There’s that alpha protective instinct.” Regina teased.

“I am not...I...ugh.” Emma sighed. “So what, alpha or no alpha, you didn’t have to stay up doing this for me...I mean…I appreciate it...but still!”

“And I appreciate the sentiment, miss swan, but I needed something  _ else  _ to do with my hands.” Regina said.

“ _ Else? _ ” Emma asked. “What else were you doing?”

Regina raised a brow and smirked at her, a seductive glint in her eye. “Good day, Miss Swan.”

She turned on her heel, her hair nearly hitting Emma in the face and slapping her nostrils with her scent. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Emma said, just slightly within Regina’s ear shot as the brunette kept walking, before she reached into the leather pouch and uncorked one of the tiny vials, shooting back the suppressant and sighing in relief when she felt it working, just in time. 

“So did you bone her yet?” Ruby suddenly asked, her head popping up out of the door. 

“ _ No. _ ”

“Hey Mary Margaret?” Emma said as she walked into the loft that night. 

“Yes honey?” Snow responded. The short-haired brunette was sitting on her favourite armchair reading a book when Emma walked in, and the blonde sat on the couch, laying back on it and kicking one foot up as she turned her head to look at the other woman. 

“Do you know anything about Alphas? Like...at all?” she asked. Snow sighed.

“I thought I did.” she said solemnly.

“What do you mean?” Emma asked.

“Well you know what I said at the diner when this all started.” Snow shrugged. “I thought my father was an Alpha…”

“Yeah but he…” Emma sighed. “He lied.”

“Everything I thought I knew I learned from him.” Snow said. “He told me an alpha’s job was to secure the future of his kind. That’s what he said when I asked him why he had to marry again after my mother died. That’s why he wanted Regina…”

“Bastard.” Emma hissed under her breath.

“Emma!” Snow chided. “That’s your grandfather you’re talking about.”

“So?” Emma looked at her, sitting back up. “He lied to you, he lied to everyone, and...God. I don’t even want to  _ think  _ about what he did to Regina. It makes me sick.”

“Why does it always come back to Regina?” Snow asked. “Ever since you found out you were an alpha it’s ‘Regina, Regina, Regina.’ Need I remind you she’s the reason you grew up an orphan?”

“Hah, sure.” Emma scoffed.

“Excuse me?” Snow stood up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” Emma stood up as well, standing at full height to have those few inches over Snow. “But Regina isn’t the only bad guy in this story. Your father lied to her and abused her and you’re too damn proud to even acknowledge that. If I were in her position I would have done way worse. I’d rather grow up an orphan than look up to an abusive, piece of shit rapist like you do.”

“Why are you always defending her?!” Snow demanded.

“She’s an Omega, that’s my  _ job! _ ” Emma snapped. “You want me to be the big bad alpha leader? Then you better get used to the fact that I will always look after Regina before any Beta out there. Including you.” 

Snow took a step back, shocked and bewildered. 

“Have you seen her at all today?” Snow asked.

“What’s it to you?” Emma asked back.

“Please just answer the question.” Snow asked. Emma sighed, crossing her arms defiantly. 

“I have. She came over to the diner to give me some suppressants.” Emma shrugged. “What of it?”

Snow gulped and shook her head, putting on a pained smile and shrugging. “No reason.” 

She walked away, going into the bedroom and pulling the curtain behind her, leaving Emma to look curiously at her. The blonde was about to follow her before her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out. 

_Event Reminder: Pick up Henry from soccer Practice.__  
_ _Invited by: Regina Mills._

“Of course.” Emma rolled her eyes, unable to stop the little smirk that came up on her face. She sighed and put the phone away, calling out in the direction of Snow’s bedroom. 

“I’m going to pick Henry up.” she said, not waiting for a response, which she didn’t get. 

The loft was silent for a few minutes while Emma left and drove away. And was then filled with the sound of David walking into the loft. 

“Snow?” he called.

“In here.” the Beta’s voice said, small and tearful. David, immediately concerned, went into the bedroom, pulling away the curtain to find Snow in tears, sitting on the bed. 

“Snow, honey, what’s wrong?” he asked, sitting beside her on the bed and wrapping his arms around her. She buried her face in his chest for a moment before she pulled away for a second.

“I think...I think Emma’s mate is…” she sniffled. “is...Regina.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Mom!” Henry called as Regina opened the door, rushing forward to hug her tightly. “I missed you!”

“I missed you too, sweetheart.” Regina kissed the top of his head and smiled at him gently he hugged her once more before he grabbed his backpack and ran off to his room, leaving Regina and Emma to watch him. 

“Well, that was a pleasant surprise.” Regina said to Emma. “I didn’t think he’d miss me so much.”

“You actually know how to cook and when he’s here, he doesn’t have to share a bathroom with three other people.” Emma pointed out. 

“I see.” Regina nodded. “Well, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Maybe I’ll let you keep him for a week if he starts hating me again.” 

“Sounds like a good enough punishment.” Emma chuckled. “So your heat’s all gone?”

“Thankfully.” Regina sighed. “Your rut?”

“ _ Saionara. _ ” Emma nodded. “Though...my new uhh... _ not-so-little  _ friend is still around.”

“I see.” Regina nodded, giving Emma a sympathetic look. “Might be a permanent fixture then.”

“Honestly I think I got used to it.” Emma shrugged. “I had to buy new boxers though...And jeans. Skinny jeans modeled for females does  _ not  _ cater to  _ that  _ thing.” 

“It’s a wonder they cater to what you had before.” Regina said. “They look like they pinch.”

“Sometimes.” Emma shrugged. “So...hey...thanks for your help this week. I know you wanted to keep to yourself while it passed.”

Regina took a deep breath and shrugged. “Emma it seems that no matter what happens, we’re going to be in each other’s lives whether we like it or not...Might as well be as amicable as possible.”

“Hey, if history’s anything to go on? We work pretty damn well together.” Emma shrugged. “We  _ did  _ move the moon together.”

“Yes we did.” Regina gave her a small half-smile. “So, has Snow eased up at all?”

“She’s...acting weird, actually.” Emma frowned. “Has been for a few days.”

“Any hint as to why?” Regina said, only half sarcastically. Emma sighed.

“I don’t know, but she’s been acting like this ever since…” the blonde stopped, looking into Regina’s eyes for a second before looking away.

“Ever since what, Emma?” Regina asked. The alpha sighed and shook her head.

“We got into it about...about the king.” she said.

“Leopold.” Regina frowned, her eyes suddenly going to some dark place. Emma nodded. 

“I called him a bastard and she got pissed off. But, I don’t care. It does take a special kind of bastard to do what he did.” the sheriff went on. Regina’s eyes visibly softened, though only a little.

“You believe me, then?” she asked.

“Regina, of course.” Emma said. “Besides you there’s that other girl…”

“Sofia.” Regina nodded.

“I can’t believe I’m related to such a prick.” Emma shook her head. “I don’t blame you for killing him. I think I would have done worse.”

“So I take it Snow was unhappy about the fact that you were defending me.” Regina crossed her arms.

“Like I give a shit.” Emma scoffed. “I told her straight up, if she wanted me to act like the alpha she wants me to be, she’d better get used to me defending you.”

“Why me?” Regina asked, completely halting Emma’s train of thought.

“Well…” the blonde shifted from one foot to the other for a second and then sighed. “You’re an Omega, and more than that, you’re Henry’s mom. Every other Omega seems to have someone or other in their corner…”

“I burned my corners along with my bridges.” Regina sighed with a nod. “So you pity me?”

“What? No!” Emma said, taking offence to the accusation. “Regina I just...want you to be safe. Maybe it’s instinct. Maybe it’s because I know it’s the right thing to do. Maybe because we have some weird connection - whatever that is, we have it, neither one of us can deny that.”

“No, we can’t.” Regina nodded.

“Either way I…” Emma gulped, her mind going a mile a minute trying to explain herself. 

“You…” Regina encouraged. Emma let out a huff of air through her nose and looked the brunette up in the eye.

“I’ve got your back.” she said. “No matter what.”

“Emma…” Regina said softly. 

“I mean it.” Emma nodded to further strengthen her stance on the subject. Regina took a deep breath and let it out before giving the blonde a soft smile.

“Thank you.”

“You’re...uh…” Emma gulped, unable to get her eyes off of Regina’s smile that was still directed towards her, that is until she looked just a little bit higher and got caught staring into her eyes. “You’re welcome…”

Comfortable silence fell between the two, and Emma knew that that was the moment she should have bid goodbye to the older woman. But she simply couldn’t will her legs to move...she didn’t want to.

“Hey mom? Do we have any leftover lasagne?” Henry came back down and asked, breaking the silent moment between the two women. Regina turned around to regard him and smiled at him.

“Don’t we always?”

“Awesome!” Henry cheered, getting a smile out of Emma as well as he ran to the kitchen. 

“I should go.” Regina said, turning to look at Emma. “Make sure our son is fed.”

“Yeah.” Emma nodded.

“Thanks again for taking him this week...I’m sorry I sprang it up on you out of nowhere.”

“A lot of things do that to me.” Emma chuckled. “Getting to spend time with my son isn’t half as bad as most of them.”

Regina smiled at her and nodded. “I’ll see you later, Emma...thanks again.”

“Of course, see you later.” Emma said, letting Regina close the door but not leaving just yet. Something clung tightly to her mind, and her heart. And though she’d heard it before, she didn’t quite feel as much about it then as she does now.

“...Our son.” she repeated softly, letting the word, and the insinuation, linger on her lips and in her mind before she sighed, turning on her heel and walking away from 108 Mifflin Street. 

Emma had been in her office for most of the day, not really doing much, but then again not much was required from her. And she didn’t know whether it was a good thing or not, but it gave her time to sit and think about everything that was currently going on. The whole mess with alphas and omegas even being a thing. Her rut, and the curious coincidence of it falling right around the same time as Regina’s heat. The fact that it seemed to be triggered by Regina’s own scent.

_ God, her scent. _

She sighed, her head swimming in so many thoughts, all of them seemingly centred around the mayor in one way or another. Had it been anyone else, maybe Emma wouldn’t have worried so much…

...But she wouldn’t have cared as much either. 

A light knock on her door grabbed her attention, and when she looked up, she saw Snow standing outside the glass door, a pink box in her hands, and giving her a faint, almost nervous smile. Emma hesitated for a second, but then signalled for her to come in.

“Hi.” Snow said when she opened the door. 

“Hey.” Emma said. “Wanna sit?”

“Thank you.” Snow said, putting the box down in front of Emma.

“What’s this?” the sheriff asked.

“A peace offering?” Snow said, when Emma looked up curiously at her, Snow took a deep breath and let it out. “I’m here to apologize.”

“You didn’t have to come all the way here, I mean...we live in the same loft.” Emma shrugged.

“I know, but I figured maybe this felt more like...your domain.” Snow shrugged. “Not that the loft isn’t, of course. But I don’t know if you consider it as much.”

“I mean...I gotta say it feels like yours more than it does mine.” Emma shrugged. “Sorry.”

“No apology necessary, honey.” Snow shook her head. “It’s natural.”

“Yeah.” Emma sighed. “Been hearing that phrase a lot lately.” 

“I know.” Snow nodded. “And...that’s what I came to apologize for.”

“What do you mean?” Emma asked.

“Well...I’ve been so caught up with the fact that you’re an Alpha, and what I feel is the ‘natural’ order of things. Not to mention our tricky past. And... _ hell.  _ Our tricky present!” Snow scoffed. “I feel like I let my pride and prejudices blind me and nearly threw you under the bus as a result.”

“Well...I hate to say it but...yeah...You kinda did.” Emma grimaced.

“And I am so sorry.” Snow sighed. “I’m a Beta. And your mother. My job is to guide you and advise you in the best way that I can on  _ two  _ fronts. And I failed you on both.”

“Snow.” Emma sighed. “You didn’t... _ fail.  _ You just...I don’t know.”

“Did a god-awful job.” Snow shrugged. 

“Buuutt…” Emma drawled out, giving Snow a cheeky half-smile. “That can be fixed, right?”

“Well...You tell me?” Snow asked. Emma reached over, pulling the box closer to her and opening it up, her jaw going slack when she saw the amount of doughnuts and bear claws that were stored inside.

“Apology accepted.” Emma said, picking up a chocolate glazed doughnut and shoving it into her mouth. Snow laughed and shook her head.

“Oh please chew your food carefully?” She asked. 

“Forry.” Emma said, her mouth full of doughnut. 

“So now that that’s settled.” Snow bit her lip. “Can I ask you about something?”

“Sure.” Emma shrugged, swallowing her mouthful perhaps earlier than would be advisable.

“How are things between you and Regina?” Snow asked. Emma shrugged and frowned in slight confusion.

“Fine.” she said. “I just saw her this morning cause I dropped Henry off. We’re...fine. I think we’re a little better than we were last week actually.”

“I see.” Snow nodded. 

“Why do you ask?” Emma wondered curiously. 

“Well...It’s what you said last week.” Snow shrugged. “You’ve been kind of protective of her lately.”

“Snow, I know you and Regina have a weird history but...I mean...the woman raised my kid.” Emma shrugged. “Not to mention every other factor I have for looking out for her.” 

“I know.” Snow nodded. “And I understand.”

“You do?” Emma asked. 

“Yes.” Snow nodded again. “There exists a delicate balance between alphas and omegas. And that balance has been missing for...well for a century. I’m not even sure how we survived now that I know the truth.”

“Given how I’ve been feeling lately, I’m wondering how you survived  _ with  _ Alphas.” Emma sighed. “I feel like I could blow at any second.”

“It’s still so new to you honey.” Snow said gently. “And given that it’s been a hundred years, I think our Alpha knowledge is a bit limited.”

“Yeah.” Emma sighed. “You’d think someone would have thought to write a book.”

“Hmm.” Snow said before perking up suddenly. “That’s it!”

“That’s what?” Emma asked.

“Maybe someone  _ did  _ write a book! I’d go to Gold’s shop if I were you. Or maybe ask Granny? Someone’s bound to have something.” Snow said. Emma nodded slowly.

“Yeah, I’ll check it out.” she said. “Back to what you were saying? Balances?”

“Right...delicate balances.” Snow nodded again and carried on “I was saying...I think there’s a similar balance between you and Regina. You push and pull each other, you protect each other even if the second you turn around you start screaming at each other. It makes sense. I may not have wanted to admit it, because it’s complicated as all hell. But it makes sense. And if it makes sense and it’s what nature intended then no one can deny it.”

“...Snow what are you talking about?” Emma asked, completely lost. 

“I’m talking about Regina being your mate!” Snow said.

“My...mate?” Emma said, here eyes shifting around the room before they landed back on Snow. “you mean like...a buddy?”

“No, Emma.” Snow shook her head and took a deep breath. “I mean like...like your  _ true love _ .”

“ _ WOAH.”  _ Emma physically recoiled so hard her office chair was sent wheeling backwards until she hit the wall and bumped her head. “ _ Ow!” _

“Emma! Are you alright?” Snow stood up in concern.

“I...I don’t even know.” Emma rubbed the back of her head. “It sounded like you just suggested Regina was my true love!”

“I...did.” Snow said. “And then you wheeled yourself backwards into a wall.”

“Yeah, I’m caught up.” Emma nodded, groaning at the pain on the back of her head.

“Do you need medical attention?” Snow asked.

“I think  _ you do _ .” Emma said. “Regina? My true love? Seriously?”

“Emma it makes sense.” Snow repeated.

“Not it doesn’t! And neither do you! A week ago you  _ hated  _ me for defending her!” Emma said. 

“And you stood up to me! You looked like you were ready to tear my head off!” Snow said. “I’ve only seen anyone act like that when defending a mate.”

“Please stop saying  _ mate.  _ We’re not animals.” Emma sighed. 

“I’ve been struggling with coming to terms with this ever since that argument Emma, and ever since I realized, well...well everything that happened since I met Regina has suddenly made sense. The universe in all it’s wisdom created a huge mess in the hope of bringing you two together.”

Emma stood up, levelling Snow with a glare. “Did you just seriously insinuate that all the bullshit Regina has been through was  _ meant to be? _ ”

Snow just looked at her calmly for a minute. “Emma...You’ve been through some horror stories too...why is Regina’s past more important to you?”

“I...uhh…” Emma stammered and eased her stance, taking a half-step back. “I don’t know.”

“You’re protective.” Snow shrugged. “It’s just the Alpha in you. But the way you defend her and stand up for her. It’s telling.”

“Well...Can you tell it to shut up?” Emma said, her voice pitching nervously. 

“I know it’s not easy to hear.” Snow said. “And I’m not expecting you to go running to her with proclamations of your undying love...This isn’t a fairytale.”

Emma chuckled, despite herself. “Tell me about it.”

“But I wanted you to know...When I realized what was going on...I felt it was my duty to tell you. Doubly so.” Snow said. 

“Me and Regina…” Emma sighed. “Do you have any idea how complicated that would be?”

“About as complicated as an imposter prince and a runaway princess turned bandit?” Snow said, giving Emma a knowing smirk.

“Probably more.” Emma said. “I mean…the fact that you’re not screaming blue murder about the possibility of me and  _ Regina  _ is scary enough.”

“I went through the five stages of grief way too fast for it to be healthy.” Snow sighed. “But acceptance is here.”

“Thanks?” Emma shrugged. “...You’re not even phased that I’m meant to be with a woman?”

“Emma I  _ touched  _ a unicorn, battled ogres, and am standing in front of my daughter who’s just about  _ exactly  _ my age.” Snow rolled her eyes. “I have better things to worry about.”

“Fair point.” Emma said, sitting back down with a huff. 

“What’s going through your mind honey?” Snow tried gently.

“Everything?” Emma said. “Not to mention that Regina hates my guts...even more so since I turned out to be an alpha.”

“She’s scared.” Snow shrugged. “Regina’s fears have always gotten the better of her. She pushes people away because she’s afraid that if they get too close they’ll see the cracks in her armour. That sweet nineteen year old who just wanted to ride horses and go on adventures, she’s still in there somewhere. But she’s been through so much she’s built up wall after wall after wall. You have as well.”

Emma rubbed at her face and sighed, her heart pounding in her chest, as if to say ‘she’s right’

“I have to take this slow.” Emma said. “If I try anything too soon, if I  _ say  _ the wrong thing…”

“She’ll run for the hills.” Snow nodded. “You’d know a thing or two about that.”

“What would you do?” Emma asked.

“Well…” Snow hesitated. “Maybe  _ don’t  _ start by punching her in the face and stealing a piece of jewelry.” 

“ _ Noted. _ ” Emma rolled her eyes. “Any real advice?”

Snow shrugged. “Flowers are always nice.”

“Miss Swan…” Regina stood, leaning against the jamb of her front door, arms crossed and brow raised in confusion and curiosity. 

“Hi.” Emma said.

“Pray tell why you’re standing there with a bouquet of roses?” Regina asked.

“uhhhhh...Flowers are always nice?” Emma reiterated her mother’s advice. Regina rolled her eyes. 

“And to what do I owe this gesture?” Regina asked. 

“...I don’t know.” Emma blurted out, panicking internally. 

“So you just…” Regina shrugged. “Got me flowers?”

“Yes.”

“On a whim.” 

“Yes.”

“Completely and totally unprovoked?” Regina asked. 

“Yes?” Emma’s voice pitched. “Is...is that okay?”

“Well.” Regina hummed, fighting off a smirk to the best of her abilities, though her eyes gave her away as she stepped closer to Emma and gently took the bouquet in her hands, Emma’s heart skipping a beat as the brunette’s fingers brushed against hers. “I suppose any gesture of gratitude is to be appreciated. And I’m sure you must have had  _ some  _ reason for doing this, even if it was subconscious and you’re unaware of what that reason is. And the thought, conscious or not, is always what counts.” 

“Uhhh…” Emma gave her a confused look. “Do you not like flowers?”

Regina lost the fight with the smirk, her teeth showing just a bit as she looked up at Emma, her eyes alight with some semblance of happiness that almost made Emma gasp. 

“Oh no, I do. You were correct. Flowers are always nice.” Regina gave her a gentle nod. She looked at the blonde up and down curiously as she stepped back towards the door. “Though, if you’d like some advice, in case you once again have an overwhelming urge to gift me with decorative produce…”

“Uh huh?” Emma squeaked nervously. 

“My favourites are Orchids.” Regina winked at her, before turning around on her heel and walking back into the house, closing the door behind her. 


	7. Chapter 7

“Orchids are her favourite?” Ruby asked.

“Yep.” Emma said, her body slumped forward and her forehead pressed against the table of the booth she sat in at Granny’s, Snow sitting beside her and Ruby right across from her. 

“That’s all she said?” Snow asked.

“More or less.” Emma whined.

“This is useful information.” Ruby nodded. Emma just sighed forlornly, and then lifted her forehead up a few centimeters off the table, only to let it slam straight down again.

“I’m an idiot.”

“Not surprising, since you seem to insist on concussing yourself.” Snow said.

“Ooh,  _ mom burn. _ ” Ruby teased.

“Emma when I said that flowers were always a nice idea, I didn’t mean  _ immediately. _ ” Snow went on.

“You weren’t specific!” Emma accused. “And...I panicked.”

“About  _ what _ ?” Ruby asked. “She doesn’t even know what’s going on.”

“Don’t try and put  _ logic  _ into this!” Emma said.

“Sounds like an alpha.” Ruby quipped.

“Shut up!” Emma snapped, getting Ruby to jump a little.

“Sorry?”

“Emma, what have I told you about snapping at omegas?” Snow said. Emma growled, her eyes still on Ruby.

“Then she shouldn’t be taunting me.” the blonde said through gritted teeth.

“This really shouldn’t be turning me on so much.” Ruby sighed.

“No it shouldn’t!” both Emma and Snow chided.

“Oh  _ sure _ . Kinkshame the Omega why don’t you!” Ruby crossed her arms and huffed, slouching in her seat. 

“Can we please focus on the fact that my life has decided to be a game of mad libs?” Emma grumbled. 

“Honey, calm down.” Snow said. “She liked the roses, right?”

“She...seemed to.” Emma shrugged. “Her eyes looked...I don’t know...bright...oh  _ god  _ what if she’s allergic?!”

“They looked bright because she was happy, stop being silly.” Snow rolled her eyes. 

_ “Or  _ because she’s internally screaming for her antihistamines!” Emma said. 

“She’s not allergic to flowers, idiot, she had them in her house. And she has a giant ass apple tree for fuck’s sake.” Ruby said.

“...Oh, right.” Emma realized. “Okay... _ but-” _

“Sweet Jesus.” Granny said as she came up to the table, leaning down to press her palms into it and looking straight at Emma. “If a woman says she likes the roses, she likes the damn roses. Get her orchids for next time and make a joke about remembering important details, and for the love of all that is holy on this goddamn planet  _ stop panicking. _ ”

Emma looked wide eyed at the older Lucas woman and sighed. 

“But I-”

“The next generation is fucked.” Granny said abruptly, standing up straight and walking away.

“Hey!” Emma whined before glaring at Ruby who was snickering. 

“What? She’s funny.” the younger girl shrugged.

“Can we please focus?” Snow said. “Emma, remember what I told you about Regina. She gets scared easily. And she hasn’t had the best luck when it comes to her love life.”

“Isn’t that because you-” Ruby began.

“I was  _ TEN. _ ” Snow snapped.

“Touchy.” Ruby teased, getting a side-ways glare from Snow.

“Not as fun when she does it to you, is it?” Emma shot towards Snow.

“Okay, enough.” Snow sighed, looking up at Emma. “You need a gameplan.”

“For what?” Emma asked.

“For...to...woo Regina Mills.” Snow said as if it were obvious.

“Solid structuring of the English Language right there.” Ruby mumbled under her breath, getting a glare from Snow. 

“You’re not helping.” she said.

“I’m not here to help, I’m here for comic relief.” Ruby shrugged. 

“Ignore her.” Emma said.

“Rude.” 

“Why do you want me to woo Regina so quickly?” Emma asked.

“Because…” Snow trailed off. “You’ve both been waiting a long time for your happy ending.”

“So you want us to rush into this?” Emma asked. “Doesn’t seem like a smart idea.”

“You have to at least let her know you’re interested.” Snow said.

“If it’s meant to be, shouldn’t we just let the story play itself out?” Emma said.

“With you two? We’ll be here for another century.” Snow rolled her eyes. “Start small, build your way up. You’re smart, despite how you act-”

“Hey!” Emma complained.

“You’ll think of something.”

She thought of apple pie. 

She wasn’t sure why, or how it even popped into her head. But after the flowers gesture, Regina had been wondering how to properly thank Emma. Of course, she could have easily made home-made bear claws, and was certain that the blonde would crumble to her knees in thanks at that...but almonds were never really her thing, cooking-wise. 

Still, she knew the blonde had a penchant for pastry, which is why she found herself making small, travel sized apple pies. 

She heard Emma sniffing from outside the door that lead to the offices within the sheriff’s station, and was met with wide, surprised emerald orbs looking at her through the glass walls of the Sheriff’s office. 

“Hi.” Regina said almost nervously.

“Hey.” Emma said, standing up, seemingly on instinct. “Everything okay?”

“Yes.” Regina nodded, pulling a medium-sized tupperware container out of her bag. “I came to give you these.”

“Uhhhh.” Emma said dumbly as she reached over and took the container, opening it and taking a long whiff. “ _ Woah. _ ”

“Thank you?” Regina tilted her head curiously.

“They smell  _ amazing. _ ” Emma said, almost stuffing her face inside the container to sniff again. “Fuck.”

“I’m glad my apple pies smell expletive-worthy.” Regina chuckled.

“Apple?” Emma looked up at her. 

“Hmm?” Regina looked back curiously.

“These are apple pies?” the blonde asked again.

“Yes.” Regina nodded, raising a brow at the blonde. “I made them this morning after I picked a fresh batch of apples from my tree and...I’m an  _ idiot. _ ”

“Woah hey, no.” Emma said, putting the container down on the desk and damn-near leaping over the desk to make her way to Regina. “It’s okay.”

“The last time I gave you home-made, baked apple goods...they were laced with poison and I nearly killed our son.” Regina sighed. Emma, on instinct, brought a gentle hand up to her shoulder. 

“We’ve come a long way since then though.” The blonde said gently.

“Still...I should know better than  _ apple  _ if I want to appear non-threatening.” Regina sighed, ever so subtly leaning into Emma’s hand with her shoulder. 

“Regina…” Emma rolled her eyes at the brunette, looking at her for a moment before she bit her lip, getting a mischievous glint in her eye, and stepped away from her. She went back to the desk, grabbing the tupperware container and opening it again, picking out one of the small pies in her hands. She made a show of licking her lips and sniffing the pastry before she took a great big bite out of it, smiling at Regina with a full mouth. 

“You’ve made your point.” Regina gave her a small smile. Emma chewed her mouthful, swallowing and looking at the brunette, who raised a brow at her. All of a sudden Emma starting coughing, holding her gut as it became heavier. Regina looked on in concern for a second, until the coughing developed into choking sounds that were quite obviously fake. 

Regina raised a brow at the blonde as Emma continued with the charade, gasping exaggeratedly and backing into her desk, her butt poised for her to sit on it as she pretended to reach out towards some unknown object that would seemingly help if she had actually been poisoned. She fell back on the desk, crumpling paperwork beneath her as she jolted and flailed around. 

“Are you done?” Regina asked, trying not to smile despite herself. Emma let out the last couple of fake gasps and then fell limp on the desk, quite obviously biting her lip so she doesn’t smile in an effort to be convincing. 

“Emma?” Regina said expectantly. She rolled her eyes when she saw the way the sheriff was attempting to breathe slowly so she looks like she isn’t breathing at all. The brunette made a show of whipping out her phone and pressing it to her ear. 

“Hello, Doctor Hopper? Yes, it’s Mayor Mills. There’s been an incident at the Sheriff’s office. Emma is in need of True Love’s Kiss...is Pongo busy?”

“Hey!” Emma said, shooting up and laughing. 

“Oh my, a miracle.” Regina said as she put her phone away. “Here I thought we’d lost you for good.”

“You’re not funny.” Emma said, even though she was still smiling. 

“I’m sorry I don’t share your love for over-exaggerated theatrics.” Regina rolled her eyes, her smile still in place as well. “I should get going, unless there’s an encore?”

“Oh sure, that one involves clowns and juggling.” Emma joked.

“How thrilling.” Regina chuckled. “Unfortunately I’m quite busy today.”

“Damn. Bozo is gonna be so upset, you’re his favourite audience.” Emma teased.

“Do send my apologies.” Regina shook her head and let out a small laugh that sent tingles down Emma’s spine. “But thank you for the entertainment.”

“You’re...more than welcome.” Emma said quietly, biting her lip a little. 

“Enjoy the pies.” Regina said. 

“They are delicious, by the way.” Emma said. “Thanks.”

“You’re...more...than welcome.” Regina reiterated, their eyes meeting for a single moment. A moment in which Emma was sure the whole world stopped turning. She was certain she’d stopped breathing, only to inhale deeply when Regina looked away. “I’ll see you later, Emma.”

“Yeah.” Emma nodded as the brunette began walking out of her office. She watched her go, fighting the urge to do something as Regina got farther away from her. And then she decided to stop fighting and rushed to open the glass door to her office.

“Hey Regina?” she called, stopping the brunette who was about to open the door to leave the office area.

“Hmm?” Regina hummed, turning to look at her curiously. 

“Stupid question.” Emma began, getting an eyebrow raise from the older woman. “Has anyone ever taken you out to dinner?”

Regina opened her mouth to say something, but then stopped herself, furrowing her brow as she thought for a moment. “You know what, I don’t think anyone ever has.”

“...Wait, really?” Emma asked, frowning. “Not even...uhh.”

Regina looked at how she stopped herself, her eyes falling on the sheriff’s badge on Emma’s jacket and let out a soft sigh. 

“It wasn’t that kind of relationship.” Regina said. 

“Oh.” Emma nodded. She gnawed on her lip slightly.

“Why do you ask?” Regina wondered.

“Because I uh.” Emma cleared her throat to shake off some of her nerves and looked back up at the brunette. “I was wondering if you maybe wanted to change that.”

“...Are you asking me out to dinner?” Regina asked bluntly.

“Yes.” Emma nodded. Regina smirked at her curiously before she nodded slowly. 

“Henry has a sleepover with his friends on Friday.” she stated.

“How does Seven-thrity sound?” Emma asked. Regina smiled at her, and Emma nearly passed out from how the breath left her lungs so suddenly.

“Perfect.”

“A  _ date?! _ ” Ruby exclaimed.

“It’s not a date.”

“Oh my Gods, Emma, you don’t even know the definition of ‘small’” Snow pinched the bridge of her nose.

“It’s  _ not  _ a date!” Emma insisted.

“I smell U-haul lesbians.” Ruby said towards Snow.

“Dear gods, please no. I don’t think my heart can take that.” Snow sighed.

“Guys! It’s.  _ Not.  _ A date!” Emma said.

“Okay, so you’re bringing her here then?” Ruby asked.

“I mean...I thought she’d prefer something a little more fancy?” Emma said.

“And who’s paying?” Snow asked.

“Well I mean, I  _ was  _ the one who invited her so it stands to reason that I do it.” Emma reasoned

“And you’re going in your jeans?” Ruby asked.

“Maybe something a little nicer I mean…” Emma shrugged.

“It’s a date!” they both shouted at her.

“Will you keep your voices down?!” Emma said, looking around to make sure no one important heard them. “Okay so it’s a date, so what?”

“We said start slow.” Snow reminded her.

“It’s one date! It’s not like I’m getting a vegas wedding.” Emma scoffed.

“Emma. Sweetheart. My love. My life.” Snow reached over a gripped Emma’s hands tightly. “If you get vegas married I will literally have an aneurism.” 

“You’ve been spending way too much time with Ruby.” Emma said.

“Way too much time with me?!” Ruby scoffed. “Bitch please, if Snow were the Omega and I was the Beta, I’d wonder if you were  _ my  _ kid.” 

“Oh. My God.” Emma gawked at the werewolf.

“Why?...Why do you have to keep bringing that up?” Snow asked, looking towards her best friend.

“Cause it’s fun?” Ruby teased.

“It was  _ once. _ You were in  _ heat. _ I had to do something to shut you up!” Snow said.

“And the second orgasm was...what?” Ruby teased. “Insurance?”

“You’re not Ruby’s daughter.” Snow turned to reassure Emma.

“Considering she’s made a pass or two at me? I fucking hope so.” Emma said.

“I may have started watching Game Of Thrones.” Ruby shrugged. “So what?”

“Nope.” Emma shook her head. “I’m out.”

“Emma get back here!” Snow said as the blonde left. She scowled at Ruby when the blonde left the diner. “See what you’ve done now?”

“Not my fault she got your sense of humor.” Ruby teased.

“Ruby…” Snow warned.

“Upupup.” Ruby held a finger up. “Omega.”

Snow sighed and deflated. 

“Sometimes I wish you were a Beta just so I could yell at you.” 

“I know.” Ruby grinned at her before she leaned in and kissed her cheek. “But you love me anyway.”

“Ruby!” Granny shouted. “Get your butt in here! Your break was over five minutes ago and we’ve got food to serve!”

“ _ She  _ on the other hand.” Ruby sighed as she stood up. “Couldn’t give two shits if I’m an Omega or not.”

“I can’t wait till I’m that old and don’t have to give a damn about society anymore.” Snow sighed.

“Well I mean...technically…” Ruby said, trailing off.

“ _ Excuse  _ me?!” Snow gawked at her.

“Ruby!” Granny shouted again.

“Saved by the Granny. Bye Snow!” Ruby said before she disappeared, leaving Snow to glare at her.

_ The Land Of Untold Stories. _

“Y...you can’t do this.” A weak voice said as the much taller, much stronger part of him looked at a wand in his hands. He was laying on the floor, weak and trying to recover from the physical pains of his ordeal. 

“For too long I’ve been told I’m less than.  _ You’ve  _ been told you’re not enough. How could you ever deny me this?” the deeper voice asked.

“Because it’s not natural.” the first man said. “You’re not an Alpha. No one is.” 

“But we’ve changed that, haven’t we?” The taller man held a vial in his hands, tipping it back and forth slightly to watch the red liquid inside swirl. 

“What do you even hope to gain from this?” the smaller man coughed. “She’s dead. We killed her-”

“ _ You  _ Killed her!” the brute shouted. “And then you blamed me for it!”

“It was an accident.” 

“You couldn’t cope with the heartbreak of your own ineptitude.” the taller man growled. “And you expect me to sit here and wallow with you? No. No more. I  _ will  _ be an alpha! I will find and claim the evil queen, and then I will rule over her kingdom. No one shall ever look down on me again. And  _ you  _ will never keep me in the shadows.”

A pop, the sound of the cork being pulled off the vial, and the brutish man had downed the red serum by the next second. 

“You fool.” The weaker man said as the other started shaking, growling as he felt some kind of change within him. Physically, nothing was different. But he could feel his senses heighten, his scent changed and become stronger. Despite the force of these changes, he smirked, knowing his plan was coming together.

It took a few minutes for him to recover, at which point he stood at full height, stretching out his neck, his eyes red and bloodshot. 

“Now…” he picked up the wand again. “To Storybrooke.”

He waved the wand around in a circle, a trail of sparks being left behind in the air. When the circle was complete, the light inside of it distorted, until eventually it showed a window to a quiet town, darkened by night-time as its’ citizens slept.

“Hmm...Homey.” the man commented as he adjusted his jacket before moving closer.

“No!” the smaller man shrieked all of a sudden, getting up to quickly lunge at the bigger man. He knocked him off of his centre of gravity and tackled him to the ground, but in the fray, his foot slid past the border of his realm and that of the sleeping town, and the portal started sucking him in. He gripped at anything he could on the ground to keep him there, but the magic of the portal became stronger. And eventually, he was too far deep to be saved.

“Well, this is a conundrum.” the bigger man smirked at him as he watched him struggle.

“P-please!” 

“Help you? Of course, dear friend.” the bigger man stepped closer, crouching as close as he could, and then pressed his open hand against the smaller man’s face, shoving him off the edge and sending him hurtling through the portal, grabbing his hand just in time to be pulled in after him with the force of its’ magic, falling freely to his destination as the portal he left in his wake became smaller, until it disappeared completely. 


	8. Chapter 8

“So…” Regina began, using her napkin to gently pat her perfect and un-stained lips, before she leaned back casually in her chair and picked up her wine glass. “Did Granny’s close for the night?”

Emma rolled her eyes. “I can eat at other places, you know?”

“Sure.” Regina shrugged nonchalantly. “But you don’t.”

“Well...I…” Emma shrugged and tried to find a good excuse. 

“Don’t like Italian food?” Regina asked sarcastically, referring to the theme of the restaurant. “Or is it terminal?”

“Ha. Ha.” Emma fake-laughed. “Is this how it’s going to be everytime I try to treat you to something a little nicer than usual?”

Regina gave her an enigmatic smirk. “I don’t know, do you plan on treating me to something nicer than usual more often?”

Emma scoffed, choking for a moment on her spaghetti before she took a deep breath and steadied herself. “Regina, c’mon. I mean...what...a friend can’t treat another friend to nice stuff?”

“They can, of course.” Regina said smoothly. “I just wasn’t sure if you’d consider me a friend.”

“Pfffft.” Emma waved off. “R’gina, c’mon...I mean…” 

The words got caught in her throat as she looked up at the brunette, who looked back at her with an expectant raised brow and a small smirk of curiosity...or was it endearment?

“I uhh.” Emma stammered, unsure of how to place her words. With Regina looking like that, she was unsure of how to place her feet...and she was  _ sitting. _

“Ah! Sheriff-ah Swan! Madame-ah Mayor!” a very Italian voice suddenly travelled over to them, followed by a large, medium-height man in a pink shirt, with a black bow around his neck and bands around his elbows, and a teal-grey waistcoat hanging loosely around him, his blue trousers mostly covered by his white apron. “I almost-ah told my darling Joe that he was  _ fottutamente pazzo  _ when he told-ah me that you two were here eh... _ together. _ ”

He dropped a knowing smirk towards Emma, who looked at him like a deer caught in headlights. 

“Stranger things have happened.” Regina smiled at the man. “The Sheriff here just thought it would be nice to treat me to something... _ special? _ ”

She looked at Emma for confirmation, who gave her a nervous smirk and a slight nod. 

“Ahhh,  _ amore! _ ” Tony gushed.

“Excuse me?”

“What?!” both women looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Oh-hoho. It’s alright,  _ ragazzi,  _ I might be a little bit ehh, how you say, over the hump...But I still know  _ amore  _ when I see it!”

“Well then, you need glasses.” Regina scoffed.

“ _ Scusami? _ ” he said, giving her a quizzical look.

“We’re, uh, just friends.” Emma said, trying not to turn as red as her Bolognese sauce. 

“But I thought ehhhh…” He looked back and forth between the two.

“Yes?” Regina gave him an expectant and slightly annoyed look.

“Well-ah, you know...An alpha...and omega…” he gestured with his hands like a weight-scale and trailed off, hoping to get out of explaining himself properly. Regina took a deep breath in. 

“Of course, an Alpha takes an Omega out to dinner...Must be a mating thing.” she threw her napkin on the table in frustration.

“ _ O Dio. _ ” he said. “ _ Le mie più sincere scuse. _ I did not mean to offend.”

Emma stood up, hoping she could handle this like an adult and not punch the guy, and turned to him. “I get that everyone here got used to a certain way of things working. But that still doesn’t give  _ anyone  _ the right to make assumptions.”

“Of course-ah not.” Tony bowed his head. “ _ Mi scusi,  _ Please, have another bottle of my finest  _ vino,  _ on the house.”

Emma crossed her arms, a smirk on her face. “You know, desert looks good tonight.”

“ _ Si! Certo! _ ” he nodded. “Anything off the menu for you both!”

“Thank you, apology accepted.” Emma said, sitting back down as the suddenly bashful man slinked back off to the kitchen.

“That wasn’t necessary.” Regina said, a smirk on her face. 

“ _ True. _ ..but…” Emma twisted around, picking up the menu off of the empty table behind her and opening it up on the desert section and showing it to Regina. “Now you can have the fancy and expensive desert you were eyeing while waiting on me to decide what I wanted, and you don’t have to feel bad about who’s picking up the check.”

Regina chuckled. “Fair point.”

“It’s me, by the way.” Emma said. “I’m picking up the check. Because I invited you out and it’s only logical.”

“As long as you’re applying logic in  _ some  _ aspect of your life, you’ll hear no complaints from me.” Regina teased. “How’s your spaghetti?”

“It’s awesome!” Emma grinned, lifting her spoon over to Regina, a grin on her face as the brunette eyed the edible lump on it.

“Meatball?” 

The Mayor narrowed her eyes at the blonde and then picked up her fork, spearing the lump of meat and picking it up off of Emma’s spoon.

“Don’t mind if I do.”

“Final Destination: 108 Mifflin.” Emma said as she pulled into a parking spot right in front of Regina’s house, getting a chuckle from Regina as the brunette unbuckled her seatbelt. 

“Well, thank you for the lovely evening, Emma.” she said, reaching over to the door handle.

“Hey can I uhh…” Emma shrugged. “Walk you to the door?”

“Are you expecting to get to first base tonight?” Regina asked teasingly, getting Emma to nearly choke on air. 

“Wha-I uhh.” Emma stammered, getting a laugh from the brunette.

“I’m joking, Emma.” she said. 

“I...totally knew that.” Emma huffed out a breath of air before she got out of the car and went around it to open Regina’s door for her, the brunette gracefully getting out of the car and smiling at her.

“Twice in one night, Sheriff you do know how to make a woman feel special.” Regina teased further.

“Didn’t you, like, pay someone to do that in the enchanted forest?” Emma chuckled.

“Yes, and here you are doing it voluntarily.” Regina said as they walked and Emma opened the gate that leads to the front yard for the brunette. “Socially speaking, you’re a regular charmer. Financially though, you’ve missed quite the opportunity.”

“I’m sure I’ll live.” Emma chuckled. “Who knows, my boss might decide to be nice to me and give me a raise?”

“Your boss can work some magic dear, but even that has its limits on state-mandated budgets.” Regina said.

“Well, darn. Guess we found your one true weakness...bureaucracy.” Emma joked, getting a chuckle out of the Mayor. 

They made it to the door and Regina turned, facing the Sheriff with a soft, happy smile that Emma was certain she’d never seen before. What made her certain of that was the fact that she’d be able to recall if her heart had ever previously yearned to leap out of her body via her throat and drop itself at the former Queen’s feet.

“Well, Emma, this is my stop.” the brunette said.

“Yep.” the blonde nodded. “End of the road, I guess.”

Regina chuckled softly. “I really did have a lovely night.”

“I’m...really glad to hear you say that.” Emma smiled. “I’m sorry it almost got ruined by Tony and all that bullsh-”

“That’s…” Regina lifted a hand to stop the cuss. “That’s alright...The way you handled it I uhm.”

She cleared her throat the way Regina only ever did before she was heart-breakingly honest. 

“I don’t think anyone’s ever really stood up for me in such a way.” she said. “I know you were technically also standing up for yourself...still, that situation could have easily been made even more uncomfortable if my dining partner for the evening were...well…”

“Some sleaze bag.” Emma said.

“Exactly.” Regina let out a soft chuckle. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Emma said. “Even if you  _ did  _ slap my hand away when I wanted to try your Creme Brulee.”

“Desert was free, you could have gotten your own.” Regina said.

“I didn’t know if I would like it.” Emma argued with a playful scoff. Regina narrowed her eyes at Emma slightly, her smile still in place like she was assessing something carefully. 

“I think you would.”

Emma’s eyes went up to Regina’s, locking in place. Seconds and minutes ticked away, though time stood still. The white noise that came with standing outside was muted, the world stopped spinning on its own axis. 

At least, that’s what it felt like for the two of them.

At least, that is, until someone’s phone started vibrating in their pocket. 

It took Emma a minute to realize that it was doing that at all, but when she did, she hissed out some cuss or other and fumbled with getting it out of her pocket and to her ear without incident.

“Sheriff.” she answered, her facial expressions reacting to the other person on the line, whom Regina could hear was panicking about one thing or another.

“Woah, woah, calm down!” Emma said. “I need you to slow that down for me a couple notches.”

Regina watched as Emma uh-huh’d and mmhm’d to what the person was saying.

“Out of the-” Emma stopped herself. “Two of them?”

More panicked talking.

“One of them is passed out in your garden?!” Emma said. “Text me your address I’m on my way.”

She put the phone away and turned to Regina.

“I’m really sorry, I gotta bolt.” she said.

“What was that about?” Regina asked.

“Something about two dudes falling out of the sky and one of them sustaining a head injury.” Emma said, pretending to be flippant. “Same old, same old.”

“Do you need backup?” Regina asked.

“If I do, I'll ask dad.” Emma said.

“No, I mean  _ magic  _ back up.” Regina emphasised.

“I’ll be fine.” Emma said, starting to walk down the path again.

“Emma!” Regina called out in worry, the blonde turned around and caught the expression in the brunette’s eyes and sighed, walking back up and gently taking Regina’s hands in hers on impulse.

“I promise, if I need help you will be the first person I call.” Emma said. Regina gulped and nodded.

“Let me know how it goes?” she asked.

“I promise.” 

She stepped through the back gate of the garden which was mostly surrounded by high shrubbery and hedges, stepping as quietly as she could into the garden of the panicked town citizen who had called her. Gun held down low, though that particular kind of weapon only ever felt more and more redundant given that magical mayhem that tended to go on in Storybrooke. 

She looked around, trying to catch every detail of what was around her, not an easy feat in the dead of night, and catch any glimpse of anything strange. 

She saw a figure passed out, sprawled out on the garden soil beneath him, and stepped over slowly, crouching beside him to check his pulse. He was still alive, though barely. 

She looked up at the sky, trying to figure out just how the hell someone could  _ literally  _ fall out of the sky and into a stranger’s garden. She could feel the residual magic buzzing and cracking around her like static, but that didn’t help explain much beyond the fact that magic was used. 

She felt uneasy, too, a strong, almost suffocating scent of something or someone that shouldn’t be there. Her senses were on red alert, like she should be ready to attack at any second.

“Hey, buddy? Wake up!” she shook the passed out man and tried to wake him up, but with no luck. She placed her hands gently on his head to see if there was any blood or fracturing, and found an open scar on his temple, seeping blood. 

“Crap.” she hissed, pulling out a handkerchief she had stuffed away in her pocket and pressing it to the side of his head, applying as much pressure as she could to staunch the bleeding. The scent she’d smelled earlier was not coming from him, which brought up a red flag: She wasn’t alone, and the passed out man wasn’t the only person here. 

She whipped out her phone, gulping and hesitating for a second on who to contact first. She sent a quick text before sending another to her father to get medical help for the bleeding man. Now she just had to wait, which left her feeling uneasy. Especially because the unpleasant scent was getting stronger and raising red flags in her mind. Her newfound Alpha instincts were going haywire, like something was telling her to attack, or defend. But what, she wasn’t exactly sure of yet. 

She heard rustling in the leaves, the wind, she thought. Though she was certain she’d heard thudding footsteps as well. But that could have been her heartbeat in her ears, either way it was not helping her anxiety. She took a deep breath and held it to try and calm herself down, but suddenly…

_ Snap _

A twig behind her, breaking under the weight of a foot. She turned around as fast as she could without injuring herself and stood up, pulling out her gun.

“Who’s there?” she demanded.

“Is he dead?” A deep voice attempting to be gentle asked. 

“...No.” Emma answered hesitantly. 

“Pity, my job would have been easier.” The voice said. Emma cocked her gun.

“Stay back!” she said, her instincts sending her into defense mode as the unwelcomed scent became stronger. 

“Ah. So there  _ is  _ an alpha in this realm.” The deep voice said, turning into a growl half way through. 

“Yeah, what’s it to you?” Emma said, trying to keep her emotions in check. 

“Just…” the sound of a long inhale and a sigh. “ _ Sniffing out _ the competition.” 

“The comp-” Emma cut herself off and let out a growl, aiming her gun in the direction of the voice. “Show yourself, now!” 

The footsteps came faster than she anticipated, and though she fired her gun and  _ thought  _ she hit her target, the tall lumbering man didn’t stop or slow down. And before she knew it, a thick branch came swinging at her. She barely had time to feel it’s impact on her head, or her body hit the ground beneath her, before the whole world went black, leaving her phone to vibrate in her back pocket as a shadowed figure crouches over her unmoving form.

**To: Regina**

** _If you don't hear from me_ **

** _ within an hour come to the hospital. _ **

** _I've already contacted my dad, _ **

** _he's coming with medical. _ **

** _We have one injured male, _ **

** _a cut to his temple._ **

_ Emma? _

_ Miss. Swan?!?! _

_ Answer me this instant, _

_ Miss. Swan, or so help me! _

_ Alright Emma, this isn't funny anymore,  _

_ either answer me or I will show up at the hospital  _

_ and give them more of a reason to have you there! _

  
  



	9. Chapter 9

The rise back to consciousness was slow, and she wasn’t sure where she was or how she got there, but she knew for a fact that it wasn’t the same place that she remembered being at last.

She heard noises around her, muffled, like they were coming from a different room. People talking, machines beeping, the sounds of trolleys loaded with unknown objects being pushed down long hallways. 

She took her first deep breath since waking up, the smell of hospital hitting her senses, not very pleasantly, and groaned softly when she felt the dull thudding in her head, the remnants of getting hit with something, she was sure. 

With a bit more observation of what she felt underneath her, it didn’t take long for Emma to deduce that she was lying in a hospital bed. The dull thudding pain was accompanied by a headache around it, so she wasn’t exactly keen to open her eyes, especially when she knew that there would most likely be a blinding light to greet her as soon as she did so...or was that just in the movies?

She took another deep breath and thought maybe a little more sleep would be the better choice, but the sound of arguing outside of her door made her think that someone else had other ideas.

“I already told you, I can’t let you in!”

“And  _ I  _ already told  _ you  _ that I don’t care! I am the Mayor of this town, she is my  _ employee  _ and she was injured in the line of duty. I have the god-given responsibility to make sure she’s okay.  _ Personally. _ ”

“Uh, well, technically it’s  _ curse  _ given.” 

“Watch yourself, Doctor.” 

“And she’s asleep! She’s been unconscious since they brought her in and she hasn’t even made a peep yet. Given the blow to her head we don’t even know if she’s comatose yet-”

“ _ Comatose?!”  _

“Maybe that was the wrong word-”

“Out of my goddamn way Whale,  _ now. _ ”

The last word transitioned from the doorway into her room, the sound of the air whistling as the door was shoved open and tell-tale clicking of heels accompanying it.

“Emma Swan you wake up this second or so  _ help me God.” _ Regina demanded. 

“Regina I’ve been trying to cure comas for years I don’t think  _ demanding  _ the patient to wake up will-”

“Shhhhhhh!” Emma shushed in frustration, startling the both of them.

“Or...I could be wrong.” Whale squeaked.

“Whale. Get the fuck out.” Emma said, her eyes still closed.

“But I-” Whale tried.

“ _ Now! _ ”

“Yes ma’am.” Whale squeaked again, retreating out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

“Emma-”

“Shh.” Emma shushed again. “I just woke up like, two seconds before you barged in here.”

“...sorry?” Regina said quietly.

“Are the lights on?” 

“Yes.” Regina nodded, though Emma couldn’t see it.

“Are they bright, white, and abrasive?” Emma asked again.

“Very much so, yes.” Regina answered.

“Window?”

“Letting sunlight pour in like a broken damn does water.” Regina said.

“Turn off the lights and shut the curtain.”

“It’s a blind, actually. Vertical.”

“ _ Bite me. _ ” Emma sighed. Regina bit her lip to stifle a chuckle as she hit the switch and crossed the room to close the blind, shrouding the room in darkness saved for the mild light coming in through the glass panel of the door, and the small amount of sunlight that still seeped in.

“Okay.” Regina said. Emma sighed, slowly parting her eyelids, blinking repeatedly till she got used to keeping them open.

“Thank you.” she said. “My head fucking hurts.”

“You got hit by some kind of makeshift weapon.” Regina said. “David found you. I called him just as he did.”

“Why did you call?”

“Because you weren’t answering your texts.” Regina said.

“Was kind of busy being bludgeoned half to death.” Emma chuckled.

“Please don’t joke about that.”

Emma’s eyes shifted over to Regina for the first time since she opened them, the usually quite stoic, seeming thick-skinned woman seemed worried, to say the least, and like she’d been through more than a little distress in the past few hours. 

“I’m sorry.” Emma sighed.

“Why are you apologizing?” Regina frowned, stepping closer to her and sitting down in the chair beside her bed. 

“Because I told you you’d be the first person I called if I needed back up and I didn’t do that.” Emma said. “And now you’re freaking out.”

“I am not  _ freaking out,  _ Miss Swan, I am simply-” 

“Giving me the same look you gave Henry when Pan switched bodies with him.” Emma said. “I’m concussed, not blind.”

“Yes, well…” Regina cleared her throat and fixed her coat. “I’m glad to see the blow to your head has not meddled with your powers of observation.”

“Yep, I’m a real-life Sherlock.” Emma rolled her eyes. “Ow. That hurt.”

“That’s what you get for giving me attitude.” 

“Psht, okay  _ mom. _ ” Emma teased.

“Oh, I might as well be!” Regina snapped. “I  _ told  _ you to let me come with you! But no! You wanted to be the hero! The savior! The big bad Alpha who could  _ ‘handle’  _ it all on her own! And I have to hear from someone else that you got hit in the head with a club and left for dead!”

Emma sighed, turning her head over to Regina, who was now standing, fuming, worried, and distressed over the Sheriff’s condition, ranting as she paced the room back and forth.

“You have no sense of self-preservation. Or  _ responsibility. _ ” Regina went on. “I mean, for  _ gods’  _ sake! Whether we like it or not, Miss Swan, we have a  _ child  _ together! That alone should make you think twice about being cautious! You were passed out! Vulnerable! Whoever the  _ hell  _ did this to you could have very easily done whatever they wanted to do to you afterwards, and you’d have no way of stopping them! What if they killed you?! How in the  _ hell  _ was I supposed to explain to  _ Our. Son.  _ that  _ I  _ let you run into danger on your own and you ended up  _ dying  _ as a result?! It’s irresponsible, dangerous, and  _ disrespectful.  _ To me. To Henry. To  _ everyone  _ who gives half a  _ damn  _ about you-”

“Regina.” Emma tried gently.

“No! Don’t ‘Regina’ me right now! Don’t try to argue with me Miss Swan I have  _ had it  _ with your ‘devil may care’ attitude towards  _ your  _ own safety!”

“Regina!” Emma tried again.

“ _ WHAT?!” _ Regina all but screamed, turning to look at Emma expectantly, shocking the blonde to her core when she saw that there were tears streaming down her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” she said. “I didn’t want to worry you like that. I...didn’t realize that’s what I was doing. I’m an idiot. I’m sorry.”

Regina reeled herself back in and wiped off her cheeks, trying to pretend that she didn’t just openly cry over Emma Swan’s safety.

“Well you’re right about one thing.” she sniffed. “You  _ are  _ an idiot if you think I wouldn’t worry about you.” 

“Not this much, anyway.” Emma said softly.

“I thought we were friends, isn’t that what friends do?” Regina asked.

“Yeah.” Emma swallowed thickly. “I guess I just never had a friend like that.”

“Well newsflash, Miss Swan, you do.” Regina said. “I told you to call me if you needed back up.”

“...I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“So you take all the danger on by yourself, that makes  _ perfect  _ sense.” Regina scoffed. 

“I’m sorry.” Emma apologized again.

“Well...I forgive you.” Regina crossed her arms and huffed, tapping her foot. “But I’m not done being mad at you.”

“I can live with that.” Emma smirked at her.

“As long as you’re living.” the brunette muttered.

“I am.” Emma shrugged. “Now, can you hand me the remote?”

“What remote?” Regina frowned.

“The one for the bed? I wanna sit up.” Emma said. Regina rolled her eyes at her.

“This hospital is still outfitted with equipment from the 80s, Emma, there  _ is  _ no remote. There’s a lever and your upper body strength.” she said. Emma sighed.

“Okay.” she said, throwing the sheets off of her legs. “I just hope my robe is tied so you don’t see my butt.”

“What. The.  _ Hell.  _ Do you think you’re doing?!” Regina demanded, stopping Emma in her tracks.

“Uhh...Getting up to lift the bed up?” Emma said. “I’m not going to lay down all day just cause the hospital hasn’t gotten with the times.”

“Oh for the love of-” Regina took off her coat in frustration and threw it down on the chair she’d been sitting on, pulling the covers back onto Emma’s legs as she walked around the bed.

“What are you doing?”

“ _ Helping  _ you. Voluntarily. Since you seem incapable of asking for it.” Regina said, leaning over the side of the bed and reaching down just under the frame, pulling at something that resulted in a metallic  _ click.  _ Then she grabbed at a handle and pulled, lifting the upper half of Emma’s bed up to a 45 degree angle. “How’s that? Higher?”

“No that’s good.” Emma said, observing Regina carefully as she pushed the lever back in place, smacking down on it to push it in securely. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Regina sighed, moving around the room to sit back down in her chair when she noticed that Emma was staring dumbly at her. “What?!”

“I just…” Emma shrugged. “You’re stronger than you look.”

“Thank you.” Regina said. “Maybe now you’ll think twice before writing me off as back up.” 

“Wow I’m gonna be hearing about this for a while, huh?” Emma teased.

“Given your penchant for running into danger? My grudge might last longer than  _ your  _ lifespan.” Regina rolled her eyes again.

“Wouldn’t expect any different from you, Gina.” Emma smirked.

“Never call me that again.” Regina glared at her for a second.

“Sorry.” Emma chuckled, not sorry at all. Regina sighed and gnawed her lip in thought for a moment before she looked up at Emma again.

“Do you remember what happened before you got hit?” she asked. “You said something about an injured male?”

“Yeah I found a guy passed out with a cut on his head.” Emma sighed. “I need to get up and get dressed.”

“Why?!” Regina asked.

“So I can go make sure he’s okay?” Emma said. “The other guy wanted him dead.”

“What other guy?”

“The one who hit me.” Emma said. 

“So there were two of them?” Regina asked.

“I guess.” Emma said. “I need to go check on the first guy. If the other one wanted him dead, my guess is that he’s not so keen on keeping his secrets.”

“That would be a good guess.” Regina nodded, pulling out her phone.

“What are you doing?” Emma asked.

“Calling David. If he found you then he found the victim.” Regina said. “Maybe he managed to talk to him while you were out cold.”

“This room is actually pretty well tempered.” Emma said with a smirk, getting an eye roll from Regina.

“I’m starting to wish you  _ were  _ in a coma.” she said as she waited for David to answer

_ “Hello?” _ came the greeting.

“David?” Regina asked. “It’s Regina.”

_ “Hey.”  _ David said “ _ Whale just texted me that you’re visiting Emma. Is she awake yet?” _

“Yes, she is.” Regina nodded. “She just told me what happened. Did you manage to get the one who was injured to the hospital as well?”

_ “Yeah, I did. _ ” David answered. 

“Did you keep an eye on him? From what Emma remembers, the person who attacked her admitted to wanting him dead.”

_ “I asked the dwarves and a few other people to take turns keeping watch on him, got Whale to put him in a private room too. No one goes in and out without supervision.”  _ David explained.  _ “I figured two people injured in one place couldn’t bode well. And we need information from the injured guy.” _

“Okay, good.” Regina nodded. 

_ “Tell Emma, Snow and I will be there to see her soon, and Regina?”  _

“Yes?” 

_ “Please don’t let her do anything stupid.” _

“As Mayor of this town? That is so above my pay-grade.” Regina rolled her eyes. “But I’ll try.”

_ “Thank you. We’ll see you later.” _

“Okay, see you later.” Regina nodded before she hung up the phone and turned to Emma. “He’s in the hospital and David has him under a rotational watch. He figured we’d need to wait till you were both awake to make any decisions.”

“Okay.” Emma nodded, resting her head back and blinking up at the ceiling for a moment before pulling the bed sheets off of her and swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

“What in the  _ HELL  _ do you think you’re doing?!” Regina demanded.

“Getting up and getting dressed so I can go question the guy?” Emma said.

“Emma, I promised your father I wouldn’t let you do anything stupid.” Regina said. 

“Pfft, that’s so above your pay-grade.” Emma teased.

“ _ I KNOW.” _ Regina glared at her. “Now Sit. Down.”

“Regina, listen, this guy said some really sketchy shit and I don’t want him roaming the streets okay? We need to find him and...I don’t know…get rid of him! Now!” Emma said, trying to keep her personal feelings about the whole ordeal in check.

“You will be useless in any kind of situation while you are still concussed!”

“I’m  _ fine. _ ” Emma said.

“Oh yeah?” Regina put her hands on her hips. “Recite the alphabet backwards.”

Emma scrunched her face up at the brunette and shook her head at her as she spoke. “I can’t do that sober and fully healthy! What the hell makes you think I can do it while concussed?”

“Ah-HA!” Regina pointed a finger at her. “So you admit it, you are concussed.”

“I just have a huge ass headache I’ll be fine.” Emma said. 

“Emma, you received a blow to the head! You could have swelling in your brain! You think you’re fine now, but the next thing you know, you’ll start feeling sleepy, you’ll try to take a nap and  _ bam  _ you’ve slipped into a coma!” Regina said worriedly.

“Holy shit.” Emma sighed. “Regina I’m sorry I freaked you out so much not answering my phone but I’m  _ fine. _ I think if I were to slip into a coma, I would have done it while I was unconscious.” 

“Emma Swan if there is one thing I learned about you in the months that I have known you is that you  _ never  _ do anything in a timely and orderly manner.” Regina said. 

“Okay, here’s an idea!” Emma said. “How about you go get Dr. Whale, presuming he hasn’t shat himself in fear of you, and he can give me a check up? If he says I’m fine, I can go. If he says I’m in danger of a coma, I’ll stay and rest and follow all medical advice by a guy who got a pHD from a curse.”

Regina narrowed her eyes at her. “Cheap shot.”

“Do we have a deal or not?” Emma asked.

“Fine.” Regina crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “But I don’t like this ‘deal’ business, save it for the dark one.”

“Fine.” 

“I really need you to stop blinking, Emma.” Dr. Whale said.

“Maybe don’t shine that annoying light in my eyes then?” Emma said.

“I’m trying to look into the backs of your eyes.” Whale explained.

“Gross.” Emma remarked.

“Miss Swan.” Regina said warningly. 

“Just keep looking forward Emma I’ll be done in a moment.” Whale said. 

“It’s just hard with your head coming into my view like that.” Emma said. “It looks like your hair is coming to get me.”

“Emma.” Regina tried again.

“You come sit through some idiot shining a light in your eyes and let’s see how fast you blink!” Emma argued.

“I resent th-” Whale was about to say but Regina had, had enough.

“Oh for the love of  _ God. _ ” She waved a hand around in the air and suddenly, Whale, and the medical tool he held in his hand, disappeared.

“HEY! What the-” the Doctor exclaimed, the light around him warping as he moved around to look at himself.

“Where’d he go?!” Emma asked.

“I’m...invisible?!” Whale asked.

“Yes. So is your instrument.” Regina said. “Now Emma can’t see you, or the irritating light, and you can carry out your medical exam, Emma?”

“Yeah?” the blonde looked at her. Regina stepped around the bed and stood right in front of her at the foot of the bed, arms crossed and a frown on her lips.

“Look right at me and nowhere else, if you move I  _ will  _ magically freeze your head so that you can’t move.” The former queen threatened.

“Okay.” Emma said, having the good sense to sound a little scared.

“Whale? Go ahead.”

“This is reversible, right?” Whale asked.

“Depends on how much you annoy me. Now  _ do it. _ ” Regina warned. The Doctor audibly squeaked and checked Emma’s eyes, though neither of the two women could see what he was doing, so they just stood there, staring at each other intently while he worked. 

“Does your head hurt?” Whale asked.

“A little? Just a bit more than your usual headache.” Emma answered. “It’s better than it was when I woke up.”

“Sensitivity to light or sound?” Whale asked again.

“Well you came into the room and threw the lights on and I didn’t murder you on the spot so…” Emma shrugged.

“...Yeah, that would be a good thing.” Whale said, still invisible. “Nausea? Dizziness?”

“Just from your cologne.” Emma said. Whale sighed.

“A Doctor is a  _ respectable  _ profession so can we please-”

“Just because you’re a doctor doesn’t mean you’re a respectable person.” Regina piped up.

“Yeah dude, you asked if nuns could date. That’s just weird.” Emma said. 

Whale sighed and looked at Emma, though she couldn’t see him.

“You’re fine and there doesn’t seem to be any signs of swelling in your head. Just take it easy and don’t do anything to mentally draining.” he said.

“Like try to walk and talk at the same time.” Regina quipped.

“You know…” Emma narrowed her eyes at her.

“Don’t hurt yourself.” Regina teased again. Emma stuck her tongue out at her and then turned to the invisible doctor.

“So can I be discharged?”

“Sure, I can have the paperwork ready in a couple of hours-”

“Now.” 

“Excuse me?”

“You’ll have the paperwork ready now, Whale, I have an investigation to conduct.” Emma said.

“I’m going to bask in the only two seconds during which you’re actually taking your job seriously.” Regina said.

“Emma I can’t just drop everything and-”

“You wanna be visible again?” Emma asked.

“If you’d be so kind.” Whale answered sarcastically.

“Then get me my damn papers.”

“Emma-”

“Regina?” Emma raised a brow at the brunette, who shrugged and smirked.

“I’ll keep him invisible for as long as I can, purely for entertainment purposes.” she said. Emma turned back to look at where she thought Whale was.

“So?”

A deep, exasperated sigh.

“ _ Fine. _ Just give me a few minutes.” he said.

“Whatever you say, Dr. Invisible.” Emma said, laying back on the bed with her hands behind her head. 

“I hate my job.” he muttered. Suddenly, the door opened and closed and Emma and Regina looked at it for a few seconds before turning towards each other again before laughing in unison. 

“I had no idea you could do that!” Emma said.

“It was a neat trick to learn. I once cast it on a mirror and covered it in a white sheet. Then I magically transported it into Snow’s room. She thought it was someone pretending to be a ghost but when she pulled the sheet off and didn’t see anything holding it up, she nearly soiled herself.” Regina laughed. “I watched the whole thing through the mirror, her face was priceless.”

Despite herself, Emma had to try quite hard not to laugh. “You really were evil.”

“Well I figured if they’re going to call me that anyway.” Regina shrugged and laughed. Emma started getting out of the bed for the third time that day, and Regina slowly quietened as she watched her stand up and go towards cabinet which her clothes sat on top of. 

"Let me just get dressed and we'll go." The blonde said, reaching over and untying her hospital gown, letting it fall around her feet and not realizing that she was giving Regina a show. "Hey can you turn the AC off? It's cold in here."

There was no answer, and when she turned around, all she saw was the door swinging shut, the room now totally empty. 

"Regina?" She called out before she looked down and realized she was totally naked. "Oh...oops."

“I said I was sorry.” Emma mumbled as they walked through the hospital to go to the private room where David had the John Doe that he’d found beside Emma moved for the sake of security - a private room was much easier to watch than an open, shard ward in the town’s only hospital. 

“Still doesn’t change the fact that I now, rather unwillingly, know that you sunbathe naked.” Regina said.

“Just once every summer.” Emma shrugged. 

“Kindly refrain from doing so at a public pool.” Regina said. “And cease talking about this.”

“Sorry.” Emma mumbled again. Regina rolled her eyes but let the quip die on her tongue as they found the room and Emma knocked on the door. The blind covering the small glass panel moved to the side and a blue eye inspecting the people behind the door. Emma stuck her tongue out at the guard petulantly and the eye rolled before the blind fell back in place and the locks clicked, allowing the door to open, revealing David as the guard.

“ _ Sheriff. _ ” David said sarcastically, pointing out the irony in Emma’s behaviour.

“Deputy.” Emma said to her father, purposefully knocking her shoulder into him.

“ _ Children. _ ” Regina muttered at them both, stepping into the room as well before David closed the door. 

“Wh-who are you?” the voice of the small man in the hospital bed asked anxiously.

“Hi.” Emma began. “I’m Emma Swan, Sheriff of this town.”

“Oh.” he said. “I...please excuse my outburst I’m...I’m still quite shaken up.”

“He woke up yesterday.” David said gently. “He’s still a little confused about everything that’s going on.”

“That’s okay.” Emma nodded. “We’re here to help. But we’d like to ask you some questions first if that’s okay?”

“I...suppose.” the small man shrugged. Emma nodded giving him a small smile and trying to be as comforting as possible. David brought the chair he’d kept next to the door closer to her so that she was sitting diagonally across from the bed and within the stranger’s line of vision.

“I found you knocked out in the woods.” Emma said. “Do you remember what happened before that?”

“There was a portal.” the man said. “I wasn’t supposed to fall through. I was just trying to stop him from coming here.”

“Him.” Emma said, remembering the scent of the stranger who’d attacked her and trying to ignore the rage bubbling up in her chest. “The other guy? Tall, lumbering. He’s got a huge scar on his face.”

“That would be him, yes.” the man nodded. 

“Did he attack you? Is that why you were knocked out?” Emma asked.

“No.” he shook his head. “The details are fuzzy, but I remember as we fell I watched rather helplessly, as I descended onto a large tree.”

“You think you fell through it and hit your head on the way down?” Emma asked.

“That is my hypothesis Sheriff, yes.” he nodded. “You say you found me?”

“I did.” Emma nodded. “I was working on getting you here to the hospital when your friend attacked me.” 

“I’m terribly sorry.” he said, lowering his head in shame.

“Hey relax, it’s not like you were the one swinging the club.” Emma shrugged. 

“In a strange, round-about way Sheriff, I was.” he chuckled humorlessly. 

“Oh...kay.” Emma raised a brow and looked over at Regina, who had a similar look on her face. 

“Would you like to elaborate on that?” Regina asked. He looked at her, almost surprised that she spoke up. 

“It’s a little uhm...complicated.” he said. 

“I’m going to be honest…” Emma said. “He admitted to wanting to kill you. So yeah. I’d say it’s more than a little complicated.”

The man nodded. “Yes, I’m aware of his intentions.”

“Are you two related?” Emma said.

“You could say that.” he said. 

“Something tells me this is more than your average case of sibling rivalry gone wrong.” Regina said.

“We’re not siblings.” the man said. “He’s...uh...another half of me.”

“You mean like…” Emma raised a brow. “A romantic partner?”

“No! No! Goodness…” the man chuckled nervously and adjusted his glasses. “No uh...he’s...well...He’s my dark side.” 

“Your...dark side?” Regina said. 

“Yes.” he nodded. “Brought to independant life through my own foolish desire to be rid of him once and for all.” 

“Look, Mister...uhh…” Emma trailed off, signalling to him for his name.

“Jekyll.”

“Mister Jackal…” Emma said. “I’m not entirely sure what you mean by-”

“Excuse me, Sheriff.” he spoke up. “I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s not ‘Jackal.’ it’s Jekyll.”

“Jekyll.” Emma repeated, realization dawning on her. “As in...Doctor Jekyll?”

“At your service, Sheriff Swan.” he nodded.

“So…” she looked up at Regina with mildly panicked eyes before looking back at him. “The other guy...he’s...Mr. Hyde?”

“Yes.” Jekyll raised a brow. “How do you know?”

“Your story is...somewhat of a classic.” Emma said. 

“...I’m not sure what you mean.” he responded.

“I do believe that that is something that requires a lot more explaining than we have time for.” Regina said. “Let’s not forget a man who admitted to wanting you dead still roams loose in the streets. Not to mention that he’s not from this realm.”

“You said he wanted to come here and you tried to stop him. Why did he want to come here?” Emma asked.

“I don’t wish to shock you with the truth of it.” Jekyll said, his tone taking on the same sense of urgency that Emma’s had. “But I’m afraid there is no use in mincing words. I am a beta. But a darker part of me has always craved more. Power. Respect. I hated that side of me, despised it. So I tried to cast it out. And I created him in the process. Before we fell through the portal, he took a potion. Supposedly, it will change his status...he’ll be an alpha.” 

“That’s why he called me the competition.” Emma frowned, her voice starting to become a low growl. 

“Competition?” Jekyll asked. “You’re an alpha?”

“Frustratingly so, yes.” Emma grumbled, standing up. “Did he say anything else? Is he planning anything?”

“This would be the part that would shock you. You see he...” Jekyll said, taking a deep breath. “He plans to find the Evil Queen and forcibly claim her so that he can take over her kingdom.”

Regina’s arms, up till now crossed over her chest, fell at her sides. “ _ What?!” _

Jekyll looked over at the brunette and examined her for a minute before he sighed, realizing who she was. “I’m afraid so, Your Majesty. If I were you, I would take no chances. He’s a brute. And he’s pure evil. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants.” 

Emma growled, low in her throat, as she stood abruptly. “Then I’ll stop at nothing to make sure he doesn’t fucking get it.” 

“I understand.” Jekyll said, trying to remain collected. “But I do feel as though the Queen’s safety is a priority.” 

“Yeah.” Emma nodded, looking over at Regina. “He’s right.” 

Try as she might to hide it, the fear in Regina’s eyes was as clear to Emma as a sunny day. 

“Could we get out of here please?” Regina asked in a quiet voice. 

“Your place?” Emma asked gently, getting a nod from the brunette. “Let’s go.”

“Emma.” David said gently, gesturing towards Jekyll with his eyes when she looked at him. 

“Keep an eye on him, make sure no one comes in or out of this room without permission. I’ll talk to Granny about putting him up in a room when he’s discharged.” Emma said, looking over at Jekyll. “We’ll keep you safe.”

“I appreciate that, Sheriff.” he nodded. She nodded back, before turning to Regina and giving her a nod towards the exit with her head, leading the way out of the hospital.

“Don’t worry.” Emma said to the Mayor. “That guy won’t get within a mile of you.”

“Easier said than done Emma we don’t know who we’re dealing with or what he’s capable of.” Regina said, panic striking in her voice. 

“Hey!” Emma stopped, turning on her heel to face Regina, looking her in the eyes, her own green ones alert and determined. “I’m gonna stop this asshole from getting anywhere near you or I’m gonna die trying.”

Regina clenched her jaw, lips frowned and brow furrowed. Fear and worry in her eyes. “That last part is what scares me.” 

And with that, she brushed past the Sheriff and walked away. 


	10. Chapter 10

Her feet hit the wood floors of the foyer of her mansion, and she allowed herself a small sigh of relief to be in the familiar dwelling again. But the relief didn’t last too long. Panic soon hit her again and she rushed to her study to find the books she’d hidden in there in case this kind of emergency ever happened. 

She opened a drawer in her desk and found the one she needed immediately, grabbing it and all but slamming it down on the desk before she opened it, flipping through the pages hurriedly to try and find the one she was looking for.

“Oh come on, before someone-” she grumbled to herself before her attention was stolen to a white cloud swirling around in front of her, dissipating to reveal Emma with her back towards her. 

“Hah! It worked!” Emma celebrated. “Regina! I’m in the study! Where are you?!”

“Behind you.” Regina said from behind the desk. 

“Woah!” Emma jumped, startled, as she turned around. “There you are!”

“Here I am.” Regina rolled her eyes. “Care to tell me why the hell you’re here? Or how the hell you managed to teleport like that? It takes years of practice.”

“Or sheer blind panic at the fact that you just disappeared.” Emma shrugged. “I just...I don’t know...did some magicky stuff.” 

“Eloquent.” Regina rolled her eyes and sighed. “Now if you’ll excuse me I’m about to seal up my entire house with blood magic and not let anyone in or out of the house.” 

“What?!” Emma exclaimed.

“You heard me. I’m not taking any damn chances.” Regina said.

“I get that, Regina. I do. But you’re going to just lock yourself inside this house for God knows how long?” Emma asked.

“That’s the plan.” Regina shrugged. 

“What about Henry?” Emma asked. Regina sighed.

“He wouldn’t be able to leave.” she said. “Blood magic means it needs to be a blood relative to be able to open the doors.”

“So what, Regina?” Emma asked.

“I need you to take care of him.” Regina said. “I need you to explain to him what’s going on and-”

“No.” Emma shook her head. “No way. I’m not going to let you do this to yourself and I sure as  _ hell  _ won’t let you do this to  _ our  _ son.” 

“It’s not safe for me out there!” Regina exclaimed. 

“Then I’ll make it safe for you.” Emma said. “Let me watch your back for a while. This guy is some alpha wannabe, the second he sees me hanging around he’ll-”

“Knock you in the head with another club?” Regina finished the sentence.

“Rude.” Emma deadpanned. “I didn’t see the motherfucker coming. I know better now.”

“So do I.” Regina crossed her arms. “Or do you forget that this isn’t my first ‘alpha wannabe’?”

“We need to do something.” Emma said. “We can’t just let him wreak havoc in the streets. You’re not the only Omega in this town. If we don’t take care of him he’s bound to hurt someone else. It would be careless to just look out for you Regina. Think of any other unclaimed Omega out there. What if he hurt Ruby? Or Sofia?”

Regina shoulders slumped and she took a deep breath. 

“I promise you I won’t let anyone hurt you, Regina. But this guy came through a portal. He has magic. Which means…” Emma sighed. “I need your help.”

Regina took a deep breath, trying to curb her temptation to scream in sheer panic. She was doing her best to hide her fear, but she knew it wasn’t working, not on Emma at least.

“Emma we don’t even know what this guy looks like!” she argued.

“I do.” Emma shrugged. “I got a pretty good look at him.”

“Before he concussed you, you mean?” Regina raised a brow, getting Emma to roll her eyes.

“Yes, before that.” she answered. “Big, tall, ugly, huge ass scar on his head and his eyes looked kind of bloodshot if I got a good look.”

“Okay.” Regina said. “But what if he’s a shapeshifter?!”

“Excuse me?” Emma raised a brow. “That’s a thing?”

“Glamours are most certainly a thing, Emma.” Regina crossed her arms. “What if he pretends to be someone close to us? Hmm? Snow. David. Ruby. He could pretend to be Henry! Hell, how do I know you’re not him in disguise right now?”

“Okay, if you ever have any doubts about whether or not I’m an imposter in disguise, all you have to do is ask me my bra size!” Emma said with an accomplished smile on her face. Regina furrowed her brow and frowned at her. 

“Why, of all things, would I ever ask you your bra size?” the former Queen asked.

“Simple.” Emma shrugged. “Men in general have no idea about bra sizes, so even if they said something that sounded even remotely like a bra size, you’d probably know that it wasn’t the right one. And this guy in particular looks like he came out of some Victorian era steampunk-esque erotica fanfiction. He doesn’t even know what a bra is! He’d never be able to answer you properly.” 

“Fair point.” Regina answered, her eyes looking around everywhere except Emma. “So, just out of curiosity…”

“I’m a 32B.”

“Sounds about right.” Regina nodded, getting a brow raise from the blonde. “What?! How else am I going to know that any other answer is incorrect?!”

“Sure, Gina.” Emma winked at her. “So here’s the plan. I keep a close eye on you, we can hang out during lunches and stuff so you’re not alone but you’re also not tied to that stuffy office during the day. In the meantime we can talk with Jekyll and see what he knows about the guy and how we can take him down.” 

“Emma, there’s one more thing you in particular need to be worried about.” Regina said.

“What’s that?” Emma asked.

“He’s an alpha - natural or not. And he’s in your territory.” Regina said. “By nature, that means he’s challenging you.”

“Trust me, I feel it.” Emma sighed. “His scent drove me crazy.”

“That’s the way it works.” Regina nodded. “According to what I’ve read anyway, the scent of another alpha will impulsively enrage you. Strictly speaking...you’re supposed to kill him.”

“Woah, okay.” Emma held a hand up. “I don’t know how I feel about murder.”

“And you think he will have second thoughts?” Regina asked. Emma sighed.

“No, probably not.” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t.”

“No, it doesn’t. But it also means you have to be careful.” Regina said.

“Hopefully we can find a way to undo whatever that potion he took did to him, and then send him home with his tail between his legs.” Emma said. “But alive.” 

Regina nodded. “We’ll try. But if we can’t-”

“I’ll be damned if I let anyone take over this town, Regina.” Emma said. “Trust me on that.”

“I do trust you.” Regina said. “I’m just worried.”

“I know. But we’ve been through enough shit together to know that we can get through this too.” Emma said. 

Regina gave her a small smile. “We can. And then maybe we can finally have that second date.”

“Yeah.” Emma said about to turn around. “Wait what?”

“You’re as subtle as a fog horn, Miss Swan.” 

For a week, things had been quiet. No signs of Hyde, no reports of sightings of the strange man. They’d told the important people - the ones who were on a need-to-know basis when it came to the sketchy shit that went down in Storybrooke. But all the general public knew was that there were sightings of a tall man with a scar on his head and that the Sheriff’s office were looking for him.

“If we tell anyone there’s another alpha in town, there will be sheer panic. Not to mention the risk of those who aren’t happy about you siding with me switching loyalties. I’m all for letting people have the right to choose their politics-” Regina said before she was cut off.

“Really now?” Snow quipped. 

“Zip it.” Regina glared at her before she looked back at Emma. “But the last thing this idiot needs is public support. No offence to present party, but I don’t exactly trust everyone to want me to not be claimed and controlled by a mad man. And I’d rather not go through that...again.”

Snow bit her lip and didn’t say anything, and Emma agreed to Regina’s proposal. So they didn’t tell anyone he was an Alpha, and they hoped they wouldn’t ever need to. 

In the meantime, Emma watched Regina like a hawk. Had it been anyone else, it would have bothered the Mayor. But Emma had her ways of doing it, like bringing her coffee on her way to work in the morning, or inviting her out for lunch. Small subtle ways that made it feel less like she was being watched and more like someone was just...taking care of her. 

Regina would never admit that Emma Swan made her feel safer than anyone ever had. But the truth was that she was thankful for Emma’s presence whenever she had it. The reality of what that might mean had struck her a few days into their current situation, but she was never one to jump to conclusions. Especially when it came to her own destiny and fate. 

Fate, as it were, brought them to their current lunch date. 

They were sitting at Granny’s, talking as they waited for their food to arrive. It had been a week without incident, so their guard was inadvisably down. It was easy for that to happen, Emma found. To be so comfortable around Regina that she just starts talking and never once feels like she’s being annoying. Even when the brunette rolled her eyes at her or came up with sassy remarks. 

Regina had gotten used to the fact that she’d never grow tired of Emma. A part of her wanted to reject what nature was telling her. Wanted to tell Emma to take a hike and never look at her again. But she wasn’t even sure if Emma knew what was going on between them. Not on a deeper level anyway. She was still new to this after all. Though she thought back to that flower-giving incident and withheld a chuckle. If Emma had no idea what was happening between them, she was far more dense than she let on. 

“Here we go.” Ruby said with a smile to the both of them, placing two plates down, one in front of each of the two women. “Grilled cheese with a side of onion rings and a cobb salad.”

“Damn. For once I see a salad that actually looks yummy.” Emma said.

“Quick Ruby take the grilled cheese and run.” Regina said, getting a chuckle out of both Emma and Ruby.

“Yeah, no thanks. I’m not risking my life.” Ruby said. “Need anything else guys?” 

“Ketchup.” Emma said. Ruby reached over to another table and took the bottle off of that table to hand it to her. “Sweet, thanks.”

“Can I get a coffee refill please?” Regina gestured with her empty cup.

“New pot is brewing as we speak.” Ruby said, getting a small smile from Regina in response and going back to the counter. 

“So, Henry keeps asking me to go on a camping trip.” Regina said.

“Uh huh.” Emma said as she dipped an onion ring in ketchup and bit into it. 

“And I’m thinking…” Regina drawled out.

“Nope.” Emma shook her head. “No way. Not on my own.”

“Oh come on!” Regina rolled her eyes. “You’re way more...in tune with nature, or whatever.”

“Are you kidding me?” Emma scoffed. “I grew up in a city. And moved from there to  _ another _ city. The closest I got to camping in my childhood was those couple of nights I actually slept out on the streets. The first time I actually went camping was Neverland. And I don’t think that’s what you would call a fun, relaxing weekend.”

All of a sudden, they heard a shout.

“Hey, you stupid kid! Get out of here!” Ruby’s voice was heard throughout the diner. Emma and Regina looked over to see Ruby chasing out one of the lost boys from behind the counter. He zipped between the tables and leapt out of the door before running down the street. Emma had stood up and watched him, giving Ruby a look. 

“Want me to go after him?” Emma asked.

“Eh, forget it.” Ruby waved off. “They sneak in here all the time looking for scraps to eat. We give them what we can at night but it might not be enough given that they’re growing boys.” 

“Not to mention that they don’t get much to eat elsewhere.” Emma sighed. “Did they ever steal anything besides food?”

“No.” Ruby shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. They’re just hungry.”

They gave each other a short glance before Ruby turned around and went back to the counter. 

“We really need to figure out how to house those boys.” Regina said. “It breaks my heart to see them running wild in the streets like that.”

“In my experience, kids like that just...need someone to lead them down the right path.” Emma said. 

“Hmm…” Regina hummed. “Maybe we can start some kind of program for them.” 

“Sounds good…” Emma trailed off. Regina raised a brow at her. 

“What are you thinking?” The brunette asked. Emma’s eyes connected with hers for a second and then she shrugged. 

“Maybe with some funding. Some help from Archie, some sponsorships from local businesses. Maybe we can find them a place they can stay. There’d need to be someone willing to take care of them, maybe volunteers. Get the older ones part time jobs so they learn how to earn what they need or want. Get the younger ones in school.” Emma shrugged. “It’d be like a foster home really.” 

“But done right.” Regina said. 

“Yeah.” Emma nodded.

“Well. Storybrooke is a small town and it would be the only place of its kind.” Regina said. “It shouldn’t be too hard for the Mayor to make sure something like that ran smoothly.”

“Yeah I guess...wait what?” Emma looked up at Regina with wide eyes. “Really?”

“Why not?” Regina shrugged. “We just need time and determination. Both of which I think we have plenty.”

“Tell me about it.” Ruby said, having come up to the table to pour Regina’s coffee. “You two are like two annoying dogs with bones. You never quit.” 

“Said the actual dog.” Regina raised a brow at the younger woman.

“Bite me.” Ruby said. 

“I have.” Regina smirked at her. Ruby’s eyes went wide and shot over to Emma before Ruby turned tail and disappeared as fast as she could. 

“What was that about?” Emma asked. 

“Nothing to worry yourself over.” Regina said, taking a sip of her coffee. “Just reminding her, her place.”

“O...Kay.” Emma said slowly. “So about that camping trip with Henry…”

“If you’re about to try and convince me to go with you, the answer is no.” Regina said. 

“That’s not what I was about to say.” Emma said. “I was going to suggest we let him go with my parents.”

“Hmm…” Regina tapped her fingers along her coffee cup. “That’s not too bad of an idea. Though I am curious as to why you’re not willing to spend that time with him.”

“It’s just.” Emma sighed. “I don’t think I’d be good at it and I don’t like embarrassing myself in front of him. Besides...I don’t think now is the best time for us to be too far apart.”

Regina opened her mouth to say something when she felt a weird rush. The kind she only gets when…

“Crap.” she hissed. “Emma. Get up. I need to go home.  _ Now. _ ”

“Why what’s going-” she looked at the panic in Regina’s eyes before the scent hit her and she shot straight up, dropping a few bills on the table before she grabbed Regina’s arm and rushed her out of the diner. 

“Take a suppressant and meet me at the mansion.” Regina said before she waved her hands in front of her face and disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. 

Emma looked around, slightly sniffing the air to see if she could catch a whiff of a sent that wasn’t welcome. But he was too far away. Not too far for him to see, though…

Up inside the clock tower, a tall man stood with a set of binoculars, watching the scene in front of the diner unfold. A boy running out of the building, and then a few moments later, two women, clearly in a panic, before one of them disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. He smirked, hearing the sound of rushed footsteps climbing up the metal staircase that lead to where he was standing. 

“I take it you slipped the potion into her food like I asked?” the tall man asked. 

“Yes sir.” the boy said. “I tried to hide under the counter but I was seen. Still, I did it just like you asked.”

“As long as the deed is done.” the man pulled out a wad of cash and handed it to the boy. “You’ve never seen nor heard of me, do you understand?”

“Yes sir. Thank you sir.” the boy took the cash, his eyes wide with wonder, unsure what he’d even do with it all. 

“Now run along.” the man said, waving a hand at the boy as if he were shooing away a fly

“Thank you sir!” the boy said before running off back down the stairs. The man pulled the binoculars back up to his eyes and watched as the blonde woman looked around, suspicion in her eyes. 

“Storybrooke’s resident alpha isn’t as dense as I thought.” Hyde said to himself. “No matter. I will still prove myself superior.”


	11. Chapter 11

Much like they had been a week ago, they stood in Regina’s study. Regina had her magic book that told her how to do blood magic, and Emma stood with the small bag of suppressants Regina had given her. 

“So what’s the plan?” Emma asked.

“I seal up all the doors and windows with blood magic so I’m the only person able to open them.” Regina said. “And then...we wait till my heat passes, I suppose.” 

“I just don’t understand. You said your heat wasn’t for another two weeks, at least.” Emma said.

“It’s not meant to be.” Regina gritted her teeth. “I have a very funny feeling that lost boy behind the counter wasn’t scrounging for scrapes of Granny’s Lasagne.” 

“You think Hyde put him up to spiking your plate with something?” Emma asked.

“I’m positive.” Regina said as she began walking through the house. “There are potions to trigger an omega’s heat. It’s one of the easiest things to make.”

“When this is all over you're going to have to explain to me why." Emma said, moving to peek behind the curtains. "No sign of him outside."

“I doubt he’s just going to stalk outside of my house, Emma.” Regina said, passing by the front door. She peeked out of one of the glass side-panels beside the door and stopped, all but slamming herself against a wall to hide herself. “Oh, god damn it.”

“Regina?” Emma rushed out of the study and towards her. “What is it?”

“He’s stalking outside of my damn house, Emma!” Regina said. Emma peeked through the same side panel Regina had and saw a tall man standing right in front of the house across the street, his arms behind his back and waiting patiently, or so it seemed, anyway. 

“Jesus Christ, talk about a drama queen.” Emma said. “Can you believe this guy?”

“I can believe it.” Regina glared at Emma. “I doubt his flair for dramatics is our main concern right now!”

“Right.” Emma stood straight and looked at the brunette fully. “Seal the door?” 

“I was just about to.” the brunette sighed. 

“What do you want me to do?” Emma asked.

“I don’t know.” Regina sighed. “Just...stay close?”

“Always, Regina.” Emma said, a look of concern on her face. 

“Thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got Elvish to recite.” Regina said, opening her book and going through the painstaking task of reciting an ancient language to cast the spell, ending it with cutting her hand and dropping a drop of blood on the book. 

Emma watched on in mild horror as the whole thing played out, and when Regina cut her hand, she actually cringed. 

“That can’t be sanitary.” she said.

“Ancient magic elves had far more important things to concern themselves with.” Regina said, shutting the book. “Could you try to open the door please?”

Emma looked at Regina almost skeptically before she stepped over to the front door and slowly turned the knob to try and open it, and while the locks all clicked the way they should when a door is about to open, she was unable to pull it open due to the magic holding it shut. 

“Well. That proves two things.” Emma said. 

“What’s that?” Regina asked.

“Number one, the magic worked and the house is secure.” Emma said. 

“And number two?” 

Emma turned and smirked at the brunette. “We’re not related by blood, so that whole date thing wasn’t wholly inappropriate.”

She mildly dodged the book that was flying towards her head in the next second. 

“How long do these suppressants last?” Emma asked. They’d been in there for at least an hour, but then again it had been a while since either of them checked the clock.

“I’m not sure.” Regina sighed. “I’d never bothered to time them.”

They’d sat down in the study, Regina having given each of them a drink of cider. She needed one to calm her nerves, and Emma was never one to let someone drink alone. Somehow, amidst their talking and Regina’s panicking, they ended up sitting on the shag rug on the floor with the coffee table between them, Regina with her knees curled up under her chin and Emma with her legs stretched out under the coffee table, one knee up with the other leg straight. Regina hadn’t even noticed that Emma had brought her gun and her sword until they’d sat down and Emma placed both on the coffee table. 

By now they’d figured that Hyde was waiting, biding his time until Regina’s suppressant wore off and he could smell her scent even better, then he’d attack.

“What if he doesn’t leave?” Regina asked.

“What?” Emma said, turning her head towards the brunette. 

“Hyde.” Regina said. “What if after my heat passes he doesn’t leave from where he’s standing out there?” 

“I’ll go out there and punch him in the face.” Emma shrugged.

“Solid plan.” Regina said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. 

“I don’t have any better ideas just yet.” Emma said. 

“It’s a little hard not to picture myself stuck in this house for the foreseeable future.” Regina said. 

“I know.” Emma sighed. “But we got this.”

“Do we?” Regina asked. “Because it feels like we’re just playing a big old game of cat and mouse.”

“Hey…” Emma said, sitting up against the couch behind her so she could see Regina better. “I mean it. We got this.”

“You always say that.” Regina sighed. “You say that like there isn’t anything in this world we can’t take on.”

“Together?” Emma asked. “I don’t think there is.” 

“You’re crazy.” Regina shook her head.

“Well hey, excuse the fuck outta me for believing in us!” Emma said. “Henry has to get it from somewhere.”

“And here I thought your mother was the one with the hope speeches.” Regina said.

“I can cook up a pretty mean hope speech, ‘Gina.” Emma smirked cockily. “Mine just involves a little bit more cussing.” 

“Though I suppose that can apply to just about anything you do.” Regina smirked at her playfully.

“Women do like dirty talk sometimes.” Emma teased. 

“Oh  _ Gods. _ ” Regina scoffed at her and, despite herself, let out a chuckle. “You’re awful.”

“You love me anyway.”

“Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night, Miss Swan.” Regina rolled her eyes and fought a losing battle against a fond smirk. 

“Seriously though.” Emma said after she had let out a small laugh. “The two of us together have done some pretty badass things.”

“Like taking on a small army of children?” Regina said.

“Yeah.” Emma shrugged. “And some weird ancient shadowy motherfucker who was leading them.” 

“Eloquent.”

“We stopped that weird failsafe on the town too, didn’t we?” Emma asked. Regina hesitated for a second.

“...We did.” she said. 

“You said it yourself that shit was meant to kill you.” Emma said.

“You refused to let that happen, for whatever reason.” Regina shrugged. 

“Yeah cause I wasn’t about to let you go down like that.” Emma shrugged. “Something inside of me said nothing would ever be the same if you were gone. And not in a good way like I know you’re about to say.”

“Oh look, she reads minds now.” Regina teased.

“I just know you.” Emma shrugged. “You and your self deprecating ways.”

“I suppose you do.” Regina said quietly. “You’re the first person to ever bother to actually do so.”

“Well...you’re the first person I moved the moon with so…” Emma shrugged. “And shared a son with.”

“What about Neal?” Regina asked. Emma made a face and shrugged. “In fact, didn’t you have some kind of love triangle going on between him and the smelly pirate?” 

“Oh. Right...Eww.” Emma placed her face in her hands and shook her head before she shrugged. “Well it doesn’t matter much anymore now. With me being an Alpha...Not to mention the...you know…”

She made a hand gesture towards her crotch and Regina rolled her eyes. 

“Neither of them were good enough for you anyway.” Regina said. 

“Oh yeah? You think so?” Emma said.

“I know so.” Regina shrugged. “One of them betrayed you in the past and left you in prison to rot and the other one only cares about a handful of things and none of them are what you should want in a true love.” 

“It’s not what I want.” Emma shrugged. “I want someone who sees me for me and calls me out on my shit but doesn’t judge me for the weird goddamn fears and anxieties my past left me with.” 

“I sometimes feel responsible.” Regina said.

“For what?”

“Your past.” Regina shrugged, making a concentrated effort to not look at Emma. “All the things that happened to you. That day in the diner, when we found out you were an alpha and I was talking about Leopold and you said you knew the type because of an ex foster father.”

“Oh, yeah…” Emma shrugged. “That’s not your fault.”

“You’re crazy.” Regina scoffed. “I might as well have put you in that damn wardrobe myself.”

“You didn’t.” Emma shrugged. “You didn’t choose that fate for me. My parents did. Rumplestilskin did. You didn’t just show up and shove me in a tree one day, Regina. You just cast a curse. You had nothing to do with what happened to me.”

“Well when you put it like that…” Regina sighed. Emma shrugged without another word and they sat in silence for a moment before Regina spoke up softly again. “Why do you always do that?”

“Do what?” Emma asked.

“Defend me, no matter what?” Regina asked. Emma bit her lip, taking a second to think about it.

“I’m not sure.” she said. “But something in my gut tells me I need to.”

“It’s probably an alpha thing.” Regina said.

“I don’t think it is.” Emma said. “I think it’s you.”

“What do you mean?” Regina asked again.

“I think something draws me to you, Regina.” Emma said. “And the reality of what that could be is more than a little scary.”

“Why?” Regina frowned in concern and curiosity. K

“You’d probably laugh me out of this house if I told you.” Emma chuckled humorlessly. 

“What if I promise not to?” Regina said.

“Do you?” Emma asked.

“Do you promise to tell me?” Regina asked back. Emma sighed, nodding. “Then I promise.”

Emma gnawed on her bottom lip and shrugged. “My mom said that uhm…”

She gulped, and Regina raised a brow at her expectantly. “Yes?”

“Well...Ruby and mom seem to think that…” Emma sighed. “That you and I are...supposed to be...Mates?”

“Like...Mates mates?” Regina said. “Or like...pirate friends?”

Emma snorted and laughed. “Holy shit.”

“It’s a valid question Miss Swan and I do not appreciate being laughed at!” Regina joked. 

“Mates mates.” Emma said, calming down and looking right at the brunette. “She said we’re meant to be...together? I guess.”

“Huh.” Regina said, sobering up and looking away for a second.

“What?” Emma asked.

“It’s just that…” Regina sighed. “Well...the reality that, that could be a possibility might have hit me a few days into this whole mess.”

“What?!” Emma sat up, nearly knocking her drink off the coffee table with how hard her knee bumped it. 

“It…” Regina shrugged. “It makes sense. It’s not the easiest thing to come to terms with but I suppose I've had to do that rather fast given how much time we’ve spent together over the last few days.”

“You really think we’re…” Emma trailed off, a million thoughts running through her head at once. “Wow...yeah it does make sense doesn’t it?”

“I just thought we’d...take our time to figure it out. I guess fate had other plans.” Regina said. 

“Wow.” Emma let her head fall back against the couch as she processed it all. “I mean...that explains the serious eye-sex thing we had going on that first night I showed up in town.”

“We did  _ not  _ have-” Regina stopped, looking back on that night and letting out a surrendering grumble. “Yeah I suppose we had an eye-sex thing going, if that’s what you want to call it.”

“Regina, in the short time I spent sitting on that couch I thought about like ten different ways I wanted to take you on that chair.” Emma said, pointing to the pieces of furniture she was referring to. 

“I did briefly entertain the thought of mounting you like a stallion.” Regina said. “Oh god...I think the suppressant is going to wear off soon.” 

“Yeah… Mine too.” Emma sighed. 

“I suppose we won’t need them one day.” Regina chuckled softly. “You and me...if we do ever survive this.”

“Hey!” Emma looked at her. “Wait a damn second.”

“What?” Regina asked. 

“That motherfucker isn’t getting his hands on you.” Emma said. “ _ Especially  _ if you’re meant to be mine.”

“Excuse me?” Regina raised a brow at the blonde. “I’m whose, now?”

“I uh…” Emma stammered and sighed. “Dammit Gina you know what I mean.”

“I do.” Regina sighed. “I just don’t like being referred to as property.” 

“That’s not what I meant.” Emma sighed. “I just meant that...I…”

The Sheriff’s emotions clearly got affected as she gulped and shook her head. “I don’t like the idea of anyone else touching you.”

“Well I suppose that’s the point of claiming a mate.” Regina said. “Not that you have, yet.”

Emma looked up at Regina again, gnawing at her bottom lip before she let herself be brave. “Can I?”

“What?” Regina asked, unsure what the blonde meant. 

“Can I claim you?” Emma asked again. Regina stared at her, her eyes wide. She was unsure how to respond to the request. 

“Emma...I hardly think now is the time.” Regina said.

“No but…” Emma shrugged. “Why not?”

“Because...I…” Regina tried to come up with a reason but it died before it left her mouth. “I don’t know.”

“I don’t want to rush you.” Emma said. “I would never do that.”

“But why wait once we know.” Regina finished the thought. “Emma...this is for  _ life. _ ” 

“Yeah, I know.” Emma smiled softly at her. “Penguins.”

“...Excuse me?”

“Nevermind.” Emma sighed. “But I know it’s for life.”

“You’ve never been tied down.” Regina said. “All of a sudden you want to jump into this whole thing with me?”

“It’s meant to be, isn’t it?” Emma asked. “What’s the point of waiting? Besides...me claiming you gets tall dark and creepy off your back.”

“I don’t want this to be a means to an end.” Regina said.

“I don’t either. That’s not what I mean.” Emma said. “Getting him out of your hair is just...like...an added perk.”

“Emma...What if you regret it?” Regina said.

“Regina I’ve done a whole bunch of crazy shit in my life that I regret and I promise you, spending the rest of my life with you will not be one of them.” Emma said, smiling at her. A rush passed through Regina’s chest and for a second she thought she’d forgotten how to breathe. 

“Okay.” she let out with a soft breath. “I guess we can put the suppressants away then…”

Emma got up onto her knees, crawling around the table to sit next to the brunette, gently wrapping an arm around her. “Is this okay?”

Regina leaned in, falling into Emma’s warm embrace. And for the first time in her whole life, she felt completely safe. “This is perfect.” 

Emma leaned in and tentatively placed a kiss on the side of Regina’s head. The brunette smiled, turning to look at her, leaning closer so their noses brushed against each other. 

“Can I...kiss you?” 

“Yes.” Regina smiled. They could feel the suppressant fading, their scents and instincts getting stronger. “In fact I think...I think I want you to do a little bit more than just kiss me…”

“Well, when you put it like that…” Emma smirked, leaning forward and connecting their lips for the first time, before they fell down onto the rug and fell into each other, getting lost in one another with no desire to ever be found.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12.

When Regina woke up, it was early evening. They had thankfully already told Henry that there was a situation going on, and that he had to stay with Snow and Charming. She turned onto her side to see Emma laying beside her, inches away from pressing her face into Regina's neck. The brunette smiles, knowing that the Sheriff had probably restrained herself from doing so in an effort to respect Regina's personal space. 

Leaning over, Regina pressed a soft peck to Emma's cheek, watching how the blonde grumbled softly and pulled the covers over her face. She tried, and failed to stifle a chuckle at Emma's antics, before she slowly pulled the covers off of herself and climbed out of bed. 

She looked at the clock and realized what time it was. Thankfully, she still had plenty of time to prepare dinner for the two of them. After all, she figured, the danger was mostly gone now, and just because they'd been hiding out in her mansion didn't mean they didn't need to eat. 

Besides, she smiled to herself, the apples on her tree were ripe for the picking and she had enough time on her side to make apple pie. 

She went downstairs, setting the coffee pot to brew because she was jonesing for a cup, and getting out all the ingredients she needed to get started on the pie. She stepped into her pantry and picked up the basket sitting on the highest shelf before she walked back through the kitchen and reached for the back doors handle. Now to be fair, Regina wasn't paying too much attention to what was happening around her, because she was still very much riding on the high of post-coital and post-claiming bliss…

But she still didn't expect a hand where a door handle should be. 

She gasped, and her head snapped to her right where she saw a familiar blonde standing, her arm extended and her hand still firmly grasped in Regina's.

“You…are not a door.” was the first thing out of Regina's mouth. 

“Well damn, way to crush my dreams, Babe.” Emma joked. 

“We are going to have a very serious discussion about that nickname...After I make apple pie.” Regina said matter-of-factly. 

“Sounds like a solid plan.” Emma stepped closer to Regina and leaned in, pressing a kiss to the brunettes cheek. “That's for earlier.” 

“You were awake?” Regina asked.

“Close enough to it to feel you moving around.” Emma shrugged. “You were going outside.”

“I was.” Regina nodded, smiling in amusement.

“Is it safe?” Emma asked. Regina turned the paler hand over in hers and pressed a kiss to the back of it. 

“It should be,” she said. “Now that I've been claimed, even my scent should have changed.” 

“Really?” Emma asked. “How?”

“When an Omega is claimed, especially by an Alpha, their scent changes. It actually becomes subjective.” Regina explained. “To the person who claimed the Omega, the scent becomes sweeter, warmer, and more familiar. To anyone else, the scent changes and either becomes neutral-almost unnoticeable, or, in the case of an opposing Alpha, actually becomes repulsive. To Hyde, I smell no better than you.” 

“Hey!” Emma said, sniffing an armpit.

“Not what I meant.” Regina rolled her eyes.

“Oh...Sorry. I got distracted by your voice for a second there.” Emma said. 

“Smooth.” Regina teased. “I meant his instincts won't even let him think about it.” 

“Well if his instincts did, I wouldn't.” Emma said.

“We've taken care of that, Dear.” Regina smiled at her. “Now, are you going to let me go outside and pick apples, or will you force me to make peach cobbler with canned peaches instead?” 

“You're bluffing. You and I both know I can't force you to do anything.” Emma rolled her eyes. “Just be careful...Please?” 

“I promise, Dear.” Regina said. “And just for the record, I was bluffing. I wouldn't be caught dead with canned fruit in my pantry.” 

“See, now that one I didn't catch.” Emma said teasingly as Regina opened the back door, “Mind if I stand here and keep watch?” 

“If it makes you feel better, go ahead.” Regina shrugged, before she stepped outside. There was no need to hesitate, and she didn't bother doing so. After all, she was forced to learn all the details of what happens when an Alpha claims an Omega, and she figures because of that, that the danger was gone now. Why waste their precious time worrying about what's no longer possible? 

The wind had picked up briefly overnight, and some apples had gotten pulled off the branches. That's why Regina was crouched down by the tree when Hyde casually appeared next to her from behind the tree. 

“Regina!” Emma called out to her.

“I know, Dear. Don't worry.” Regina called back to her, not even phased. 

“Blood magic is wonderful for sealing doors and windows, Your Majesty, but it does nothing to stop someone from hopping the fence.” Hyde said smoothly. 

“I'm well aware,” Regina replied, “that would be the point of a back door, Dear.”

“For someone who ran and hid the second she realized my intentions, you seem oddly at ease, despite our proximity and the fact that nothing stands in between us.” Hyde said. 

“I am. I have no reason to not be st add when I know that your plan has failed.” Regina said. 

“Failed?” Hyde laughed, “I would get inside before your suppressants wears off, if I were you. Though if you were to stay and make my job easier, it would be most appreciated.” 

Picking up the last apple off the ground, Regina smoothly stood up and looked up at the man towering before her, his scent now as repugnant and offensive to her as Emma had described it being during her first encounter with the impostor Alpha. But she stuck it through, just to see the look on his face when it dawns on him what they'd done. 

“There's no need for me to run and hide. No anymore at least. You won't touch me. You won't even want to anymore.” She said, a cocky smirk on her face. 

“I fear you're gravely mistaken.” He said raising a brow at her. “Why would I all of sudden-”

He stopped, his brow furrowing suddenly. And Regina raised a brow at him, smirk still firmly in place. He leaned forward slightly, not getting too close, but he didn't need to get any closer for what he wanted to do at that moment. He took a couple of sniffs, before his eyes went wide, and he recoiled. 

“What in the hell?!” He exclaimed, his eyes switching from Regina to Emma and back repeatedly. “WHAT. HAVE. YOU.  _ DONE?! _ ” 

“Emma has claimed me. As she was meant to.” Regina shrugged.

“YOU!” Hyde screamed in anger towards Emma. 

“Yep.” Emma called out smugly. Hyde let out a monstrous roar and shot forward, towards the blonde, who had by now taken a step forward and as standing just outside the door. 

He grabbed her by the lapels of her jacket, spinning her around and throwing her to the ground, “You will pay for this!” 

“For what?! You're not even a real Alpha!” Emma said, “You're not meant to claim anyone or rule anything! The people of Storybrooke would never accept you as their natural leader!” 

“Is that so?” Hyde seethed. “If that's what you think, let's prove it. I challenge you to a duel. Winner gains leadership of this town.” 

Emma hiked herself up off the ground. “Fine. Loser leaves town.”

“You won't survive the fight.” Hyde said, his tone venomous. “Main Street. One hour. Don't be late, Sheriff.” 

He walked off, hopping over the fence with ease, and Emma let out a sigh before she looked towards Regina and saw the grave look on her face. 

“What?” Emma asked.

“If you die, I'll never forgive you.” Regina said. 

“No one is going to die,” Emma said. 

“What if he give you no choice?!” Regina asked, “Emma...if you die...I-”

“I won't be dying today,” Emma said. “If he gives me no choice, I promise I'm not leaving you and Henry. Especially not to a psychopath like him.”

Regina nodded, stepping over to Emma and kissing her softly on the lips. “In that case...I have an apple pie to make.” 

* * *

Word spread fast, no doubt the work of another Lost Boy hired by Hyde to spread his agenda. All Emma knew for certain was that both Ruby and Snow had blown up her phone in the span of half an hour. So she and Regina decided to meet up with them and explain the situation. 

“So you’re telling me that in a few minutes, tall, dark, and ugly is gonna be here, and you're going to have to fight him?” Ruby asked.

“Yep.” Emma nodded. 

“Damn...better tell Granny to bring out the popcorn machine.” Ruby crossed her arms. 

“That is ...so not the point.” Emma shook her head. 

“Not to  _ you _ , you government robot. Some of us have a business to run.” Ruby said.

“Ruby hush!” Snow said. “Emma...what the hell are you thinking?! A  _ BRAWL _ ?! In the middle of Main Street?!”

“This isn't a bad wrestling show, Mom. We're not ‘brawling.’ He said it was a duel. And given that this guy looks like Mr. Darcy and Frankestiens monster had a love child, my guess is it involves swords.” Emma said. 

Rolling her eyes at the Sheriff's description, Regina stepped up to her, holding out Emma's sheathed sword. “Good thing  _ one  _ of us thought to bring yours then.” 

“Oh...Yeah. Thanks.” Emma said, taking the weapon from her. 

“I don't understand, why does he all of a sudden want to duel you?” Snow asked. “I thought it was Regina he was after.”

“Oh...about that…” Emma hesitated for a second. “We need to tell you something…” 

“Well what is it?” David asked. 

“I--” Emma said, but she was suddenly rushed by a large, lumbering figure who lunged at her, throwing her onto the ground and attempting to punch her in the face, but she caught his fist and struggled against him until she was able to lift up a knee and kick him in the chest with all of her strength, sending him hurtling backwards. 

He landed on his back and Emma leapt back up into a standing position. 

“Emma!” Snow rushed over to her. “What the hell is going on?!”

“I claimed Regina.” The blonde blurted out. But Hyde stood back up and had his eyes on attacking her. So she didn't stop to see anyone's reaction before she ran off to punch him in the gut. 

“She what, now?!” Snow turned and asked Regina. 

“I hardly think now is the time for your self righteous ramblings, Snow.” The Mayor spat back.

“I'm not going to ramble self righteously Regina! For God's sake I was the one who told Emma you two were meant to be together!” 

Regina stopped and stared at her for a second before remembering her and Emma's conversation just before Emma asked if she could claim her. “Well...save the congratulations till after we're certain Emma hasn't been killed!”

“Oh…she won't be--”

Suddenly, Emma was thrown to the ground and completely slid across the asphalt road, stopping at their feet. At first glance, you could tell her face had been through the ringer.

“Emma!” Snow and Regina called out in shock at her and Regina crouched down beside her. “Dear God, are you okay?”

“Goddamn he's tough.” Emma groaned as she stood up. “And he fights dirty.”

“Told you it was a brawl.” Snow muttered, earning a glare from Regina. 

“He's tough.” Emma repeated, a sigh that sounded as close to surrender as Regina had ever heard from the blonde. 

“Well get tougher, Swan.” Regina said, “He’s out for blood and…”

Emma looked over to her and reached up with a bruising hand to cup her face gently. “And he's not gonna get his dirty freakin’ hands on you, Regina. Don't worry.”

“Don't tell me not to worry!” Regina seethed.

“My, she's a feisty one isn't she?” Hyde said, “No matter. I'll break you of that once I've ripped this Swan to shreds.”

At the implication of Hyde’s words, Emma growled and turned to Regina. “Keep my sword handy.”

“Wha--” Regina was about to question the instruction that was muttered to her through, angry, gritted teeth, but Emma stepped away from her and up to Hyde, almost nose-to-nose.

“You think I'm scared of you, don't you?” Emma asked.

“If you had any intelligence at all, you would be.” Hyde said with a smug grin. 

“Lucky for me, I’m a dumbass.” Emma smirked, getting a furrowed brow in return. 

“...Are you really insulting yourself as a comeback?” Hyde asked. 

“Yep.” Emma nodded.

“I'm...rather confused.” He said.

“That's the point.” Emma stated before she held her palm open. Suddenly, in a cloud of white smoke, her sword appeared in her hand, unsheathed, and she took a half step back before raising it and stabbing him in the gut. 

He groaned in pain, his eyes bulging and glaring at her. “HOW?!”

“You don't get to piss me off and threaten the love of my life and get away with it. I may be a dumbass, but I'm a dumbass with magic.” She smirked. “And just for the record, decades of bullshit and assholes couldn't break Regina Mills, they just made her stronger. A little wannabe Alpha, like you wouldn't stand a chance against her.”

She pulled her sword out of his gut and let him fall to the ground. 

“You...Win.” He relented before Emma turned on her heels and walk towards Regina and her parents. 

“Take him to the hospital?” She asked David. 

“Are...you sure?” He asked.

“I don't want to be responsible for his death if I can help it.” Emma shrugged.

“Emma you stabbed the man.” Regina pointed out. 

“Yeah well...he talked too much.” Emma shrugged, “And he smack-talked you.” 

Regina roller her eyes and shrugged. “Hey, according to some idiot with a mouse drawing, I poisoned Snow White for being prettier than me. So apparently, petty murder is just our thing.” 

“Nah.” Emma and Ruby both scoffed. 

“Hey!” Snow admonished, but Emma simply grabbed Regina's hand gently.

“Home?” She asked. Regina chuckled softly. 

“Of course, Dear. I still have that apple pie to make after all.” 

* * *

They were in the kitchen, apple pie sitting on a cooling tray while the lasagne baked. The first aid kit sat open on the island counter next to Emma, who sat on a stool while Regina tended to the small cuts on her face and hands. 

“Remind me to buy out the drug store’s stock the next time you get into a brawl.” Regina teased.

“Careful there, for a second it sounded like you and my mother agreed on something.” Emma teased back.

“Eugh,” Regina groaned, “I'd rather kiss Hyde.”

“Please don't.” Emma said. 

“Your wish is my command.” Regina said, Emma chuckled.

“Don't let me get used to that one.” She said, gently pulling Regina closer by her hips. 

“I'm trying to clean this cut on your eyebrow.” The Mayor said. 

“And  _ I  _ am trying to kiss you.” Emma stated.

“You are absolutely ridiculous.” Regina said.

“You love me anyway.” Emma teased.

“I never said that.” Regina stated.

“No.” Emma shrugged, “But I can feel it.” 

“You sure you're not just concussed?...again?” Regina asked.

“Hey, if it takes getting knocked in the head to get this close to you? I'll do it everyday.”

“That can't be healthy.” Regina said.

“It would be worth it though.” Emma shrugged.

“You're crazy!”

“Crazy about you.”

“Shut Up.”

“Kiss me and I will.” Emma smiled. Regina rolled her eyes and leaned in, unable to fight the smile that appeared on her face just before their lips connected in a kiss that started out soft and ended in hot passion. 

And they lived

_ Happily Ever After. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading my fic! I hope you enjoyed it!


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